Fe Male
by Ms.Marvel21
Summary: Andrea Carheart continues her adventures with the infamous Tony Stark. As a new biochemical weapon is developed, interest from the government peaks. Unfortunately, interest from others also develop. What can go wrong will go wrong, but people forget they are dealing with a woman forged from iron. (Sequel to Tick Tock)
1. Chapter 1

"A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power."- George Meredith

_Fe- the chemical symbol for Iron + Male = Iron Man  
_  
"Oh really?" I said, sounding impressed. The dim lights didn't let me see his face really, but I didn't want to. My ear was being talked off all day at work and it made me not really care that this guy was talking. Why people feel the need to impress me, I have no clue.

"I've patented more than that, too. I'm just not your average engineer." The man leaned against the bar, continuing to look at me. Secretly I rolled my eyes. I am not an object. My hand clenched the nice crystal glass as I forced a fake smile. Why couldn't I just be left alone? His eyes were no longer even looking at my face as he rambled on. I assumed he was drunk.

"And she, my good man, is not your average scientist." I heard a voice say from behind me. I release my tight grasp on the glass and put it on the bar counter. "And most definitely not your average woman." A warm arm wrapped around my waist and he planted a kiss on my cheek.

"So stop mentally undressing her, Sir Talks-a-lot, and go find another." I bit my lip to hold in my laughter. The man squinted his eyes and placed his drink down on the counter forcefully, creating a loud noise. "Good boy." With that, I was whisked away in the opposite direction. "Oh, my hero!" I said, mock dramatically. "Your knight in hot rod red and gold, at your service."

The one and only Tony Stark led me though the crowd to our table. With a swift move of his arm, he pulled out my chair. Shooting him a thankful glance, I then sat down. "He was really hitting on me." I spoke, disgusted. Tony leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of the glass of water already on the table. "I thought you would be use to it already."

I thought I would be too, but I just wasn't there yet. It's been almost two months since I've moved in with Tony. Almost two months ago, I was fired from my job as a biochemist researcher at SHIELD. I had just gotten out of college too, and I had no job lined up and nowhere to go. It had just so happened that a crazy villain named Dr. Freeman, or as he liked, Father Time, stepped in. Tony and I were transported back to 1958 for almost a full month. We worked together to get out of it, and well, in the process we sort of fell in love. Once we were back in 2013, I lost my job but he stepped in. Tony made me head of the chemical research and development lab at Stark Industries. Then he let me move in with him, just like that. And so I did.

I absolutely loved my job, even with as much stress I was under constantly. I basically ran everything to do with chemical research. Biochemical weapons were now an interest to the government, so in turn, Stark Industries wanted to develop some. We had about a million different projects going, all of which I had to monitor. I even started a few. Recently, some of my work with a team was published. It really was a great honor, and because of it, the press had a field day digging up anything on the new scientist taking the weapons front by storm. In their digging and digging, they figured out that I was currently living with Tony Stark, my boss.

Of course, you know what that caused, especially since we worked together when I was as SHEILD. A lot of people didn't think I deserved the job for a while, until I started getting things done and people began to test me. I don't want to be arrogant and say I'm super smart, but I am intelligent. Because of my younger age, people think I was born yesterday.

Soon though, I earned enough respect from the press and my staff to keep on top of everything. Living with Tony though, was a totally different lifestyle than I was use to. I'm still not use to it. You really cannot go anywhere with him without press or fans following him. I don't mind if it's just a few, but it gets old really quick. I'm not use to eating out all the time, or having people follow me even.

It seems like there are a countless amount of events, parties, and after parties that we attend. My bedtime on the weekends is like three of four. Or even later. Sometimes it's a matter of hopping on a jet and traveling across the country for something. It's weird having access to billions of dollars too. One of the first things Tony did was get me a credit card. I had my own account into which my money went into, and I had a card for that too. He insisted that I have access to his account though. It was kind, but I always felt bad not using the money I made to buy things. Call me crazy, but I still do.

As we sat together, girls stopped near our table and wave. I picked the menu up off the table and held it in front of my face. At first I blocked Tony out. I didn't really want to see his reaction to the Barbie dolls with stick legs and huge chest, but they kept waving, now from far away. Aggravated, I smacked my menu down on the table. What I saw though was totally unexpected. Tony was looking at his menu too. Not at the half dressed girls that were practically begging for attention. I felt my jaw drop down. Lifting my hand up, I snapped loudly a few time. "Hey, playboy."

Startled, Tony's head snapped back and he looked up at me. "Aren't you going to acknowledge your little fan club over there?" I asked. He didn't look over to where I was motioning too. "Yeah, I waved." He said, slightly tilting his head to the side. "One of them is a famous model." I commented, picking my menu up off the table.

"I'm Tony Stark. If I wanted a model, I would have one." A smile crept on my face as he said this. "You're not even going to look at one though?" I truly was surprised. After going out a few times with Tony, I couldn't stand the fact that he was looking at other women constantly. I didn't say that to his face though. As he continued to oogle at women, I would stare at other men while he would be talking to me. Being the jealous protective guy that he is, he got the message pretty quick. "Heck, Andrea!" He exclaimed, tossing his menu down, looking back at me. "I'm already looking at one!" My face went red and I sunk back in my chair. "Sorry." He added, reaching his hand across the table. "Your just too hard on yourself, that's all."

In the past months, my self- conscience side has come out. I always feel like I am being compared to very pretty girls and it makes me uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable. Plus, I have a bad habit of talking to myself when I get ready. Well, it's not really talking to myself anymore, because Jarvis picks it all up. That's the other reason I think Tony has been behaving so well. Jarvis has probably spilled what I say when I get ready to him. I smiled though, and reached my hand across to reach his. Giving my hand a squeeze, he then went back to looking at his menu. Still smiling, I looked back at mine too.

After we finished eating (and the food was some of the best I've ever had), Tony and I tried to sneak out unnoticed by the press. Just our luck though, they were waiting right outside for us. Questions bombarded the two of us as we walked the short distance to the car. "Smile and wave." Was Tony's motto when it came to the reporters. I put on my smile as we rushed towards the Audi, my arm though his. Quickly he opened the passenger door and I slid on in. He turned to give a witty reply to a reporter, making everyone laugh, right on que. Opening the driver's side door, he scrambled in quickly. "Well that went well." He said simply. I laughed, turning the radio on. The big engine car came to life and we sped off back home.

"So was dinner good?" Tony asked. "Oh you know, it was okay." I shrugged. He looked over at me with a blank expression before I began to giggle. "Some of the best stuff I've ever put in my mouth, Tony!" I leaned my head back on the headrest and looked out the window at the dark sky. "Okay. Because I knew you were crazy, but I didn't know if you were that crazy or not." I tugged my hair down from the updo I was wearing. "You're pretty crazy yourself." He shrugged.

I peered back out the window and I could see the house with the lights on from here. "I can't wait to get out of these shoes." Tony looked over at me. "I can't wait either." Laughing, I shoved his head so he was facing forward again. "Keep your eyes on the road, Stark." A smirk appeared on his face. We reached the large gate to enter, and it opened up instantly for us. Soon the two of us where inside where it was cooler. I undid the buckles on my heels and removed them from my feet.

"Is that better?" Tony asked, wrapping his arms around me. "Yeah. I don't want to go to work tomorrow." I complained. More stress, people to deal with, and more stress again. "I could tell you that you have to stay home and help your boss out." He whispered in my ear. "Tempting, but if I miss one day, its chaos for the rest of the week." He shook his head in understanding, but he still looked disappointed. "Well, we better get you off to bed then!" He suddenly picked me up and began ascending the stairs. "Tony, Im serious!" I yelled at him. "Uh-huh. So am I." He said with that charming smile.


	2. Chapter 2

"Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men."- Joseph Conrad

I adjusted my ear piece as I marched down the hallways in a hurry. People were constantly calling out to me, wishing me good morning. I gave a quick wave and made my way to my office. I worked on the same floor as the chemical lab, which was floor four. Since I was the head, I had a rather large office. Pulling the key from my badge, I unlocked my door.

"Judy!" I jumped back in surprise. "Oh, sorry Miss Carheart. I didn't mean to startle you." Judy Brute was my assistant while I was at work. She organized meetings, presentations, and what team I would be working with and when it would occure. She had my whole work schedule in her hands. She was good at what she does though, and I was glad.

"Those are rather lovely." She commented on the flowers on my desk. Closing the door behind me, I hung my jacket up on the hook. Walking over to my desk, I sat a large stack of files on top of more files. "Thanks." Was all I said. Tony bought me flowers every Monday. I don't know why exactly, but I absolutely hated Mondays. With a passion. A fiery passion.

"So, lay it on me." I asked, referring to my day's schedule. Judy usually met me in the lab and told me. It was odd that she was in my office today. She usually never came in here. "Well, you have a three o'clock with a government official checking out the progress on Project 90235." The project information came up in my mind, and I remembered I was suppose to meet someone today.

"Team 8 and Team 12 are ready to show you their halfway data and Team 26 is ready for their new assignment." I took a sip of the coffee on my desk. It was going to be a long day. "Oh, and Benedict has a new idea for Team 41." Sighing, I then chugged the rest of my coffee down. "Let's get to work."

"This is the special lab in which we create all of our chemical weapons." I informed the group of suits and ties in front of me. I was giving a tour before I introduced the chemical weapon of interest. I led the group down a hallway until we reached a door that required an access code. My fingers clicked across the keys as I entered the secure password. Leaning over, a retinal laser scanned my eye. It sounded off a beep, and the doors parted. "I am going to have to ask you to wear smocks, shoe covers, and hair nets in the lab. We take contamination seriously here at Stark Industries." I stated professionally.

Sliding on my lab coat, I buttoned it closed. Grabbing a hair net from the box, I pulled my bun into it and secured it with a bobby pin. Reaching down, I got two light blue shoe covers. Making sure the elastic covered my shoes properly, I stood up. "Hairnets on top, smocks in the middle, and shoe covers next to the gloves." Bending down, I pulled out a pair of purple latex gloves.

"Judy." I called to her. She grasped my lab coat sleeves and tucked them into my gloves. Reaching behind her, she grabbed the large roll of tape. It was sort of like duct tape, but it was a matte teal. The stuff was super sticky and resistant to most of the common chemicals we dealt with. Starting with my left hand, she wound the tape exactly four times around the glove. She repeated the process with my right arm. The officials behind me stood there with wide eyes. "We take contamination seriously." I repeated to their shocked faces. They didn't understand that what I would be dealing with could kill them in twenty to thirty minutes. What they didn't know though wouldn't hurt them.

"Is everyone covered up?" I asked. There was a chorus of murmurs and head nods. "Judy, double check them all, and then we can go on it." After examining everyone, she gave me the thumbs up. "Alright, everyone, follow me." Turning on my heels, I led them into our little compound. People dressed in white worked around me with some of the most dangerous things on the planet. I think our guest took notice of it too.

They were separate from us though glass walls. Each experiment had its own glass containment area in which that chemical stayed. No two different experiments would go on in the same cube, as we call them. Chemicals didn't interact, and neither did the people working on them. A chemist would work with their team, and that was it. When teams were disassembled and then reassembled, they had to sign a contract that stated they would not talk about their previous projects with their new team. All information in this department was declared classified (an order that I wanted). It was to take care of the threat of information leaks. This was no longer just a college chemistry lab I was working in. This was the real deal. And I wasn't going to let one person blow this whole operation.

I explained how the lab worked to the government officials tailing me. "Open cube 19." I spoke into the ear piece. This floor had a special security system. An officer would hear my voice in the ear piece and would respond to the commands I would give. Only certain people were commissioned an ear piece. Some were given only the keys to the things they needed to access.

"Opening cube 19." He replied back. The doors parted and I headed inside first. A small refrigeration unit held the chemicals at the perfect temperature at which they needed to be stored. A tech inside had put the substance underneath the fume hood. "This room is what we call a negative pressure room." I said as I approached the hood. "Negative pressure is used in all the cubes in the lab. Instead of air flowing out of this room and into the hallway, air is sucked in. This prevents microorganisms or other contaminants from escaping the room."

Turning around, I faced the crowd again. "This is a fume hood. It sucks the air upwards, so anything I open under it with toxic fumes will not fill the room." Reaching up on top of my head, I pulled my mask down over my face. "I advise you do the same." The others quickly followed suit. "What your interest in though, is the chemicals." I said, spinning around to face the hood. "The chemical we have here is classified as a Cytotoxic protein. This means it is a non-bio chemical, so no living organisms like bacteria, virus, and so on, are not present. Think Ricin or Abrin."

Picking up the vial, I opened up the top carefully. "How it works is simple. It stops the body's ability to produce protein. It is designed to have a latent period of 4 to 8 hours. Within this time frame, the victim will experience typical flu like symptoms. It continues to work though the body but the symptoms with vary on how it has been administered to the victim. If inhaled like a powder, nausea, coughing, shortness of breath, and last but not least, Pulmonary edema. This is when the lungs fill up with fluid, essentially drowning the victim slowly." Looks of terror were on some of the officials behind me.

"If it is ingested, let's say the powder was put into a food source, then gastrointestinal hemorrhaging will begin. Eventually the kidneys and liver will fail." Now everyone was in awe of the chemical before me. "Either way, this stuff will do the job." There were a few questions at this point.

"So what is it called?" Pouring the vial into a special container, I screwed the lid on tightly. Turning to face them, I revealed the powered that they really wanted to have now. "The base is Abrin, which is like Ricin, but more poisonous to the human body. Using this as a base, my team and I created a super Abrin compound, using a variation of other cytotoxic proteins. Abrin has not been used as a weapon before. Maybe it has a complex structure, or maybe because we already have Ricin in our collection. This though, has a bonus feature."

The officials looked like they wanted to take the stuff from my hand. It wasn't my job to sell the product, just inform others, but it looked like I was doing both. "Mix a certain amount of this powder with a saline solution, and the human body with absorb this toxic chemical. Death occurs between 36 and 72 hours after absorption. There is no known antidote. Persistency for Ricin is only slightly persistent. For ours, it's extremely persistent" Turning to the tech, I gave her back the chemical. "We call it Abricin. Now that is all the time I can spend with you." I made my way to the door. "The tech here will gladly answer any questions. Judy will show you the way out. It was a pleasure." With that, the glass doors parted and I exited the cube.

Next I had to meet with Benedict. I had visited Team 8 and 12. The progress was going well, and I couldn't wait for some positive end results. Team 26 still needed a new assignment since theirs was going to be finalized this week. But, Benedict would come first. Don't get me wrong, he was a very intelligent individual, but his ideas were often morbid or completely impossible to carry out. He was team leader of Team 1, the team that has done the most research in chemical weapons. It was rumored that he would be head after the other left for New York.

That's also another reason some of the scientist took a dislike to me right off the bat. They thought Benedict deserved it. He though, thought I was perfect for the spot and has never opposed my authority. He does though, think that his ideas are superior to mine. Still in my lab gear, I headed into the lab next door. First was the chamber. A blast of air hit me to remove anything from the other room. Then I could enter in.

"Mr. Donovan," I said aloud, interested and slightly annoyed to hear what he had to say next. "You were scheduled into my day. Whatever you have for me is got to be good." I threatened. Benedict looked up from the lab table. He has longer blonde hair that was always slicked back with too much gel. His eyes seemed to be a prominent feature. They were icy blue and stood out against his pale skin. A pair of thick rimmed glasses was upon his face. He had sticks for arms and legs. I'm pretty sure I could wrap my hands around his waist, he was that thin.

"Hello Andrea." He spoke clearly, leaning up. "It's Miss Carheart." I corrected. We always joked about formality. Benedict just smiled. "Right. I have an idea for a new project." I had gathered that. I was afraid to lean against anything, so I stood there with my arms crossed. "Okay, that's great. Spill." I demanded. Benedict stood up and walked over to a white board.

"Is it possible, Miss Carheart, that we could dabble in some genetics?" He always spoke in strange ways. I pretended to smile. "What for Donovan?" He flipped the board around to reveal a few complex equations. "Tell me, do you believe that one could create a chemical weapon to target only certain people?"

I shrugged at his comment. "It's something I have heard of before. In theories, of course." He smiled. "Good, I'm glad you are informed. I think I may just have a way we can use genetics to target certain people." I looked at his formulas on the board. I am a biochemist, but I did not specialize in genetics. "So are you talking poison a whole water source but only kill one target from it?" Benedict nodded and leaned back against the desk. "Exactly." If it was real, I would be impressed.

"Let's get a geneticist in the lab with us next week, and then we can look into your discovery a bit more seriously, okay? You didn't work on this when you were suppose to be with your team, right?" I was glad he came up with something, even though this has been tried before, but the assignments with the teams were first hand problems that needed to be fixed. "Of course not!" He scoffed, raising his hands in the air. "That is first priority." I eyed over his workspace a few more times before nodding. "Let's shoot for Wednesday. Talk to Judy tomorrow about it." I was out of that lab and on to Team 26 next.


	3. Chapter 3

"You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation." –Brigham Young

Pouring in the powder, I began to mix it in with the bowl of water. There was a bit of music playing in the background to keep me company. I began to mix it together as I heard footsteps enter the kitchen.

"Hey Andrea," I felt two hands wrap around my waist. "Tony, this could burn your hand off faster than you can say pain." Within seconds his hands were off of me and up in the air. "I told you not to work with chemicals in the kitchen!" He yelled at me. Turning around, I smiled. "Ha, just kiddin' you! I'm making jell-o!" I said with a cheery voice. "You're a sick woman." He said, still freaked out. "I know."

The two of us sat down on the couch and ate dinner. The TV was on the news channel, blabbing away at the world's problems. This was pretty typical of our evenings. Since we were extremely busy during the day, we agreed to at least eat together every day. It was one thing out of the chaos that I could rely on. I would make dinner for the two of us. Tony hasn't hired a personal assistant, which I already thought he would have after Pepper tragically passes away a year ago. He thought about hiring a cook, but I didn't like the fact that someone would be making my own food because I'm too busy too. That really bothered me. I even had Tony fire the cleaning lady because I just can't live with people doing everything for me.

He of course, is use to it. Just because I have a ton of money and was very short on time doesn't mean that I don't have time to clean my own stuff though. I don't clean for Tony though. I have Jarvis bug him until he does it. It works. To account for a personal assistant though, Tony updated Jarvis to take that roll. He tells him when things are, what he needs to do, everything.

"Long day?" Tony questioned as he changed the channel to another news program. "Yeah. The government is practically on their knees for Abricin. Who knew weaponizing something that hasn't before would make it so desirable? Anyways, after I explained the compound, I had it basically sold."

Tony smiled. "That's good! I'm glad that your helping the company develop things like that." I leaned my head on his shoulder, taking another bite of chicken. "Me too. Benedict is driving me crazy though. He's brilliant, but he has some weird ideas. He wants to make a weapon that genetically targets certain people. I don't know how well it will go though." Tony nodded, probably not really understanding why I don't really like the idea.

"An outbreak of the flu has occurred in Central America. Cases of this strand seem to be more fatal than those in the past, according to the CDC. Many who have caught the strain, believed to be H1N1, or the Swine Flu, have not recovered. So far, almost 20,000 have contracted the strain, and 5,000 fatalities have occurred within the recent days of the outbreak. The other 15,000 are currently in the care of a hospital. H1N1 vaccines have already been distrusted across the US."

Tony and I stopped our conversation to listen. Slowly I turned towards him, and he did the same to me. "That's rather…strange." I said at last. He gave a nod. "Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. An outbreak that has killed of 5,000?" I shrugged. "Well hopefully it does spread." Grabbing the plates, I took them into the kitchen. "The dishwasher please, Jarvis." The dishwasher came out from the cabinets. "Certainly, miss." I placed the dishes in it and pushed it in. "Can you run it for me, please?" I heard the water start up. "Of course." I smiled. "Thanks!" I walked back out into the living room.

Plopping back down on the couch, Tony's arm was soon back around my midsection. "Why do you talk to him like that?" Tony asked, shaking his head. "Like what?" I turned to face him. "Jarvis, sweetie, could you make me a cup of coffee, that is, if it's not any trouble?" He mocked me in a voice that was way too high to be mine. I laughed and slapped him. "I do not sound like that! And I can't help it if I'm actually polite, Tony." He raised his eyebrows. "I'm polite…sometimes." He tried to defend himself. "When did the word sometimes mean never?" I teased. Tony got up off the couch and shook his head. "You're impossible." I smiled and stood up too. "I believe it's the other way around."

Grabbing my hand, he led me down the stairs and into his garage. "Okay, this is new. What are you doing Tony?" I asked as he opened the door. "Oh you know, I was just working on something fun." He said so casually. The lights in the garage caused the metal from the old cars to shine brightly. Tony's desk was an absolute mess. Holograms were pulled up, along with a few articles. It still amazed me how they stayed in midair.

"Something fun? That doesn't sound good." I spoke warily. Fun to us and fun to Tony Stark are two different things. "Yeah," He said, walking over to his desk. "Something fun." I looked out the windows of his garage. He probably had the best view of the ocean from here.

"I'm sorry I broke that." I motioned to the window. The memory of the first time I was in one of his suits popped into my mind. Tony looked over to what I was pointing at. "You should be." Rolling my eyes, I headed over to his desk, eager to see what the big project was. "It's not like it was easy to replace." He carried on. "Oh whatever, Tony!"

Reaching underneath his desk, I heard rattling. A large object that was covered by a black cloth was in his arms. Gently he set it upon the desk. "Okay, you certainly have my attention." I commented, reaching out to pull the cloth off. "Don't touch it!" Tony scolded me. My hand slowly retracted. Grabbing the cloth towards the top, he pulled it off.

The blue glow was familiar, but I had no clue what the contraption before me was. "Did you build a new reactor?" I guessed. Tony shook his head. "Yeah, but not for me." Lifting up the reactor from the pile, he held it closer to my face for me to see. "It's for you."

Slowly, I took a step back. My hands flew up to the center of my chest. "Tony, I'm not something you can test a new reactor out on!" Anger began to fill me up. Tony's palm smashed into his face. "It doesn't go inside of you, idiot!"

I was confused now. "It doesn't?" My emotions began to settle down and I was intrigued again. "Come here, let me show you how it works." I stepped around the desk to where Tony was. Lifting it up, he untangled some wires. "It's a little rough around the edges still, but it's a good start." Grabbing my hands, he lifted them up above my head. Taking a strap, he looped it around me. "Okay, lower them." My hands came back down to my sides as Tony fiddled with the device. Taking both ends of the strap, he fastened them together over my left shoulder. It fit diagonally across my body, the blue reactor in the center.

"This is so cool!" I said, making Tony laugh. "Why do I need one though?" I questioned. Tony smiled. "Right this way!" He motioned to a platform. Anxiously I stepped up onto it, unsure of what Tony was doing. Pulling a robot towards me, I realized a video camera was mounted on it. "Uh, Tony?" I asked. "Give me a second." Was all he said.

My hands tugged at the ends of my hair. Grabbing a few more things, he was back over to my side. "Stick your arms out, palms facing me." I did as I was told. Yanking a wire with a black sphere on the end of it, he plugged the wire into the reactor. The sphere glowed blue. "On second thought, turn your palms facing behind you." I flipped my hands back and Tony ran the wires along my arm. "Please tell me what you are doing!" I begged. Tony just smiled. "Not yet."  
I stood there with wires coming out of the reactor. Two blue spheres were strapped to my hands with metal boots on my feet.

"You've used the suit before," He said at last, stepping back behind the camera. "But Jarvis mainly ran it. Now I want you to try." My eyes got wide and I became more nervous. "Tony! I don't know how to work these!" He laughed at my sudden nervous behavior. "Chill out! Just don't point them at me like that!" He said, ducking behind the robot. "Oh, sorry." I didn't realize that I had moved my hands. Slowly Tony came out of hiding.

"Don't worry, miss. I'm sure you will be a natural." Jarvis encouraged. "Thanks." I said, doubting the AI. "Mr. Stark even had a hard time to start." Tony laughed. "No I didn't!" He scoffed. "Alright, sir." Jarvis replied. Suddenly a holographic screen was displayed in front of me. Tony looked a bit younger in it. He was testing out flight stabilizers. "Jarvis!" Tony said, "Shut it off!" In the video, he suddenly shot up and hit the wall behind him. I began to laugh. "Yeah Tony, no trouble at all!" Shaking his head, he went back to adjusting the camera.

Stepping in front of it, he began. "Day one, test one with flight stabilizers. With the lovely Andrea Carheart!" He said, side stepping to reveal me. Raising a hand, I waved to the camera. Tony started making incomprehensible noises and ducked down again. " Point. !" He stressed each word. "Alright! Sorry!"

Tony walked up on the platform. "Okay, stick your hands out like this." His arms went straight at his sides, with his hands bend upwards slightly. "You look like a penguin." I teased, mimicking his pose. "Great." He said flatly. Taking a few paces backwards, he then motioned to my feet. "Just try to keep them level, and you should be good." Tony sat down on his desk.

"Jarvis, start out at a nice and easy 1%." The spheres began to produce more light and I felt myself slowly lift off the ground. "Keep everything steady." Tony coached form the desk. Moving my hands and feet downward, I began to lower out of the air and touched down on the platform.

"Good!" Tony said, clapping. "Bring it up to 2.5%, Jarvis." More power filled the stabilizers and I lifted up higher and faster from the platform. I shifted one way and then another, trying to get the hang of it. "This is fun!" I said, heading more to the left. Tony chuckled from his spot on the desk.

I began to go near Tony's desk. Papers began to fly around, some hitting the floor. "Sorry." I said weakly. He shrugged. "You haven't hit a wall yet, so your good." I laughed, trying to get back over to the platform. The video camera followed my every movement.

Finally I was over the platform. Lowering myself down, the stabilizers in my hands shut off. I dropped quickly from the spot I was in the air. My body tipped forward and the boots suddenly shut off too. My face came crashing towards the ground.

"Got you." Tony said below me. I landed on top of him, knocking him over. "Nice landing." He mocked. Carefully I got up off of him. "They turned off quick!" I defended. "Sir, the plugs seemed to become removed from the power source." Reaching a hand out, I helped Tony off the garage floor. "Oh, so you came unplugged." Tony carefully removed the stabilizers from my hands. "I'll work on that."


	4. Chapter 4

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."- Nora Ephron

Wednesday of the following week came quickly. I called up a geneticist named Price. She was acquainted with research and development and was currently running some clinical trials at the UCLA Medical Center here in Malibu. I debated about sending her the formulas to review ahead of time, but I didn't want to risk an information leak.

"Judy," I said, walking into the lab area. "I have this whole day to just spend with Benedict and Sherry right?" I wanted to double check my schedule before I run off into the lab today. "Yes, that's correct." She said, handing me my ear piece. "Your jackets in the prep area. A call is waiting for you on line 2." Pressing the ear piece into my right ear, I opened the doors to the prep area. "Line two." I whispered, not wanting to make too much of a ruckus. There was a beep and then I heard the low hum of something. "Hello, Andrea Carheart of Chemical R&amp;D speaking."

"Hey honey." I almost dropped my gloved on the ground. "Uh, hello?" I asked again. "Yeah, it's me." Rolling my eyes, I pulled the latex over my hands. "Tony? What's wrong? Why are you calling me at work?" I said in hushed tones. "I didn't get to see you this morning." Tony was nowhere in sight when I left this morning. "What are you wearing?" He asked. I stretched the shoe covers over my feet. "Tony, I'm at work!" I repeated. I heard him laugh on the other end. "Okay, that's not why I called. What size bra do you wear?"

I almost hit my head on the rack above me. "My size? What the heck are-" Tony cut me off. "Trust me, it's important." I moved out from under the rack. Grabbing a face mask, I pulled it over my head. Sighing, I whispered "32 double D." There was no reply on the line until Tony shouted. "Told you!" I made a face. "Sir, that was merely an estament." I heard Jarvis say in the background. "I don't even want to know what you are doing." Turning around, I realized Judy was right behind me. "Uh, got to go." Reaching up in my ear, I pressed the device, hanging up on Tony. Judy just looked at me. "Let's go." I took off though the doors.

Benedict and Sherry were already in the lab shaking hands. "And this is the director of Chemical R&amp;D, Andrea Carheart." Benedict said. Sticking my hand out, I gave her a firm handshake. "Thank you for coming." She smiled. "Thank you for having me." Turning towards Benedict, I kept my smile. "Alright, show her what you've got."

Benedict explained his idea to Dr. Price. She looked at the equations skeptically. "Well, as ingenious as your idea is, I do not know how well the drug would work in a situation like this." Benedict looked disappointed, and I was a bit too. "Using the water source scenario that you did, we still run into a dosage problem. The drug would contaminate the whole water supply, so the concentration wouldn't nearly be as toxic to the victim as it would be if you just contaminated his drink. Second, it still could be poisonous to others. Just because it would be genetically engineered to target a specific person's gene's doesn't mean that it would work out 100%. Relatives would have a similar genetic make-up. Would they be effected by some of the poison as well? We can't say at the moment." The room was silent before Dr. Price spoke up again. "Possible to do, maybe. Practical? You would have to test that out and see for yourselves."

Dr. Price acquired the equations and exited. Benedict turned to me with disappointment written all over his face. "I didn't quite think of it that way." Was all he said. "Oh come on, Donovan." I began. "There are always road blocks. I think it's still a good idea. We can figure out the dosage problem later. I personally think that if we can genetically engineer a biochemical weapon to target one person, the government will want it." He seemed to feel a little better. "You really do?" He asked, sitting down in his chair. "Yeah, I really do." And I did. It was a good idea, and if we could get a project going on it, then I think it would be okay. "Take a break, Benedict." I said, heading towards the door. "Clock out early. It's on me." With that, I left the lab and headed for home.

I pulled into the driveway. "Hello Jarvis!" I said out my window. "Welcome back, Miss Carheart!" The large gate before me opened up and I drove on though.  
I stepped into the door and hung up my things. "Jarvis," I asked, straining my ears. "Is there music playing in the house?" I could faintly hear the crunch of an electric guitar ringing throughout the house. "Mr. Stark is working, m'am." A smile crept onto my face. Removing my heels, I slid down the stairs as quiet as I could.

There were holograms displayed all over the garage as I entered in the code. The door unlocked and I headed on in. The music was really loud now. I wandered farther in to find Tony on the floor. Wires and various metal parts lay around him in somewhat of a circular form. Then I heard what I thought I had upstairs. Tony was basically belting out the lyrics. Stepping out from behind his desk so he could see me, I stood there till he noticed. It took him a minute because he was so absorbed in his work.

"Oh, hey Andrea." Tony said, slowly raising his head. "Hey." I replied, laughing a bit. Lifting up his hand, Tony lowered his middle and ring finger, crossing his thumb over it. The universal rock and roll symbol. "Nice." Carefully he stood up. "Jarvis, turn of the holograms." Quickly the room darkened as all the blue lights disappeared. "Whatcha workin' on?" I asked, picking up a tool off his desk.

"Oh you know, stuff." The typical cover up. "Stuff is nice." I said, rolling my eyes. He wasn't going to tell me. Slowly I made my way back to the door. Dinner wouldn't make itself. "You know the expo is coming up soon." He said, making me stop in my tracks.

The famous Stark Expo.

"Really?" I spoke, spinning back around to face him. "Yeah, really. There are going to be a lot of things to display, including some of your new work. On holograms and videos, of course." Well, showcasing a chemical weapon wouldn't be the best idea. "No one ever told me any of it was going to be displayed." I was surprised that it was going to be. "I wanted it to be." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's a new addition, might as well throw it in."

"Well," I said, leaning against his desk. "That's very nice of you to do that Tony." I was truly touched. "I've also been planning my big entrance." He added. My mind flashed back to the countless bits of the expo that I have seen on the TV. Fireworks, lights, millions of people, and lot and lots of girls. "Oh, yeah. That." I replied flatly. He was just giving me the good news before the bad. And I almost fell for it. "Flashy and there are-" Tony raised a hand to make me quiet.  
"I'll make a deal with you."

My hand rose up to my chin. Placing the other on my hip, I considered it. "What's the deal?" I asked at last. He finally struck a smile. Sliding across the table top of his desk, he landed on his feet. "I will keep the women to a minimum." He began, walking towards me. I was waiting for the catch. "If, you agree to dance with me afterwards. And not," He raised a finger to keep me quiet just a bit longer. "The type of dancing like," He put his hands out in the air and mimicked the classic two-step dancing, "like the 1958 expo. The dancing when that place turns into a club kind of dancing."

Hmm. Remain jealous the rest of the evening and have women follow Tony around, or degrade myself publicly by dancing? Tough call. If I said no, I won't dance like that, Tony would over do it, making me wish I would have said yes. If I say yes, I will embarrass myself in front of a lot of people. Then again, most of those people will be wasted. They won't care, none the less even notice. If I am lucky.

He had me right where he wanted me. Stuck.

"Stark, you've got yourself a deal." The words tasted awful as they came out of my mouth. "One song. That's is." Tony raised his fist into the air and pulled it back down. "Yes!" Victory was his. "But only one song." I stressed. "Okay okay, one song." Tony replied. "With Jarvis as our witness, lets shake on it." Tony stretched his hand out and I grabbed it. "Alright. I recorded it and I will store it." I smiled. "You're going to regret it." I added, walking back up the stairs. "No, I don't think I will." Tony said amused.

I whipped up something in the kitchen for dinner. I left everything up on the counter so Tony could make his own plate. I began to load mine up and I curled up on the couch. "Eating without me?" Tony asked, pretending to be shocked. "You said you would be up in five minutes about fifteen minutes ago." He had entered the kitchen and was filling up his place. "You when you are getting ready, me when I am in my garage." I laughed because it was true. I did say give me five minutes when I know it will take me more like fifteen. "Alright, alright." I compromised.

"The 20,000 mysteriously sick in Central America last week as now grown to almost 500,000 people. WHO, the World Health Organization, is now looking into this because of the recent spike in fatalities. Including the 500 from last week, they estimate the total to be 80,000. The disease is still believed to be the H1N1 strand of flu, known as the Swine Flu. There will be updates on this story tomorrow."

My jaw was wide open. "80,000 people dead?" I eventually said. Tony just looked at me with a similar expression. "That's 79,500 in a whole week." I shook my head. "That's just terrible." I couldn't believe that the flu had killed that many people already. The news carried on though, just like everything else does. "I hope we don't have a bad flu season." Turning my head, I looked at him. "We're not in flu season, Tony." Flu season is around fall though early spring. August is a little early for the flu.

After dinner and showering, Tony finally climbed into bed next to me. "Please don't worry about it." I heard him say suddenly. "Me? Worry? That's unheard of." I replied sarcastically. His arms took a hold of me and pulled me close. "What you should be worried for is this weekend. The Expo." He whispered into my ear. Turning around in bed, I finally could see his face. "I'm slightly excited." I whispered back, placing my hand on his chest. "Slightly? Come on, you've probably have never been to one before." He said, sounding a little disappointed. "Okay, more than slightly." I corrected, making him happier. "It brings back memories, doesn't it?" I added. "Yes, yes it does." Leaning over, he kissed me. "I love you. Good night, Tony." I moved closer to him. "And I love you more. Night, nerd."


	5. Chapter 5

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."- Coco Chanel

The work week seemed to tick by very slowly. Benedict and I readily awaited the results from the geneticist, but neither of us had heard anything by Friday. "Maybe you really stumped her!" I joked, trying to make him feel better. "Maybe. I either hope that she thinks they will work or that I am very close." He sat down in his office chair and sighed. "I'm sure it's one of the two." I encouraged. I hoped so too, for the sake of Stark Industries. Perfecting things here with these people and equipment always went really smoothly. Hey, we may even have the weapon out by next year if we worked hard enough.

"So…" Benedict began, trying to keep conversation going. "What are your plans for the weekend?" I played with a pen on his desk. "Oh, the expo, right?" He added quickly, as if it just slipped into his head. "Yeah, the expo." I replied. "I'm looking forward to it." There was an awkward pause.

"Some of our department's work is going to be represented." I said. Benedict gave a nod. "Your work?" He questioned. "No, not necessarily." I replied. "I don't do everything here. There are a lot of very talented scientists that deserve recognition." Of course he thought it would be just my work. Sometimes I really wish my love life and work were totally separate. "Right, sorry, I just implied that…" His voice trailed off. "Don't imply that." I said curtly.

Benedict looked up from his desk. "Sorry, that wasn't professional of me." I met his eyes and judged that he was sincere. "What are you plans?" I said, trying to change the subject. "Oh, nothing much really." He replied. "Just probably going to rest and maybe do some more genetic research." I nodded.

Typical weekend for me too. Tony would let me use his garage all of Friday night to catch up on things. Jarvis was wonderful help, and I could easily check on experiments in this building from there.

"Well, I hope it's a good one." Benedict said. "Thanks, and yours too." Dropping the pen on his desk, I headed for the door. "Don't overwork yourself. I need you functioning on Monday!" The door unlocked and I headed back to my office.

Judy awaited my arrival outside the lab area. She ran over my schedule for Monday and I had to adjust a few times because of the new genetics project. Then I had to return to my office. Together, we meticulously filled out paperwork. Fridays were paperwork days. New data from the week needed to be reviewed and signed off on. Judy would provide the paper work and as I would review, she would print off the next teams.

"Last one, Miss Carheart." She said, pulling a stack from the printer. "Good." I said, deep in my work. I had to get reading glasses because all of the small print was killing my eyes. "Put it down on the desk. You are free!" I told her. She laughed and placed it near the corner. "Are you sure you don't need me for anything else?" She asked politely, grabbing her coat. "Nah, go enjoy your weekend, Judy. Are you hitting up the expo?" Judy opened up the door. "Yeah, I'll be there for some of it." I nodded. "I'll say hi if I see you!" She nodded and then left me alone to work.

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" I yelled as I stepped though the door. "And hello Jarvis." I added, tossing my keys and purse down. "Welcome home, Miss Carheart." The AI greeted. There was clamoring in the kitchen, so I headed that way. "I'm in here!" Tony yelled out. "What are you doing in the kitchen!" I asked, remembering the burnt pasta he created last week. "I'm eating. We have to leave soon."

I walked on in to see him sitting on the counter with a wrapper in his hands. "What are you eating?" I asked. He had shoved too much in his mouth though, and was having a hard time chewing. "Cookie dough, miss." Jarvis answered for him. "Tony! That's not dinner!" But he nodded. "It's what I'm having." I realized he was already part of the way dressed for the expo. "That's your good suit! Get off the counter in it!" Tony laughed as he slid off. "Darlin" He said, walking my way. "You just need to relax. You're not at work, your home now."

Trying to appease him, I breathed in and then out. "See!" He said, raising both of his hands up in the air. "It's easy!" I rolled my eyes. "It's easy when you haven't done anything all day." He cocked his head to the side. "I've been very busy!" The words were muffled by the cookie dough in his mouth. He reached one of his sticky cookie dough covered hands towards me. "Don't!" I said, grabbing his wrist. "Sorry."

I pulled his hand closer to my face. Extending my tongue, I licked the cookie dough off of his fingers. A smirk developed on his face."Do you like licking things off of people? I didn't picture you as that kind of girl. We have another roll of it in the fridge if you want me to-" I could see where this was going, so I interrupted. "I'm going to go get ready now."

I stood in front of the mirror, satisfied with my make up job. It looked classy but real natural. "I could be wearing lots more than this and it would still look natural compared to all the others." I muttered as I walked into my closet. I am not one who usually goes out and buys things for just one time, but I was really going to be in the public eye and constantly around Tony. I didn't want the press hounding me in just any dress, so I decided it would be okay to splurge a bit. The dress itself was not terribly expensive though. It was a deep red color, almost crimson. It had three quarter sleeves that made my arms look slimmer. It cut off right above the knee and the dress was up to my neck. The back was a bit more open, but I was glad the front was modest. It was form fitting, but it wasn't like a sausage casing on me.

I stood in front of the mirror again, straightening out any wrinkles in it. After spraying on some perfume, I put in my earrings. Looking over myself one more time, I decided I looked fine. "Andrea?" I heard Tony yell from somewhere in the house. "The car is ready m'am." Jarvis informed me. "Be right down!"  
I threw on my black heels and headed down the stairs. Tony waited at the end for me. "You look absolutely beautiful." He told me as he turned around. I smiled and grabbed a hold of his arm. I planted a kiss on his cheek. "And when I say beautiful, I mean really sexy."

Shaking my head, the two of us walked towards the door. "Was that a Tony-I'm-so-flattered-by-your-compliments shake of the head, or a I-don't-believe-you-your-lying shake of the head?" He asked. Before I could open my mouth another voice spoke."You look lovely." Jarvis stated. "And he cannot lie." Tony reminded me. "I really am flattered. Thank you Tony. Thank you Jarvis." I liked being complimented, but I didn't always know how to handle them.

The two of us walked out into the drive way. "I like this one." I said, referring to the car. Tony smiled. "I know." Opening the door for me, I slid on into the car. Tony slid in next to me and closed the door behind him. "You've met Happy before, right Andrea?" Tony asked. Lifting a hand up, I waved. "Yes, I remember him. Hello Happy!" He returned with a wave. "Hello! Are we off?" He asked. "Hit it." Tony replied.

"Happy, doesn't she look nice tonight?" Tony was trying to make me feel better, I could tell. He knew how much I hated the press and being on the TV. Or in the public eye at all for that matter. "You look very nice tonight." Happy replied. Tony flashed me a smile. "Thank you." They were way too kind. "Do you believe me now?" Tony asked. I nodded. "Okay, I got the point, thank you Tony."

I thought about it for a second. "You know what I would really like is if someone like Ryan Gosling told me I was pretty." Slowly, Tonys head rotated towards me. "Oh pah-leeze." He said, rolling his eyes. "I am so much cuter than him."Gently, I tugged on one of my curls. "Well…He's blonde and he's tall..," I stressed the tall part. Tony only stood around 5 foot 9, which isn't really "short" but it's about the average height of a guy. A lot of guys seemed taller though. "I am not short!" He shouted, clearly aggravated and jealous now. "Okay, so your average height. But he's tall, and I like tall men." He doesn't really like the word average either. Tony sat there unsure of how to take this. "I am ridiculously adorable!" He yelled angrily at me.

I could hear Happy laughing from the front seat."Oh my gosh." He said between laughs. "I have never, and I mean never, heard a girl tell Tony that he's not good enough!" Tony had crossed his arms and was shaking his head. "Neither have I!" I laughed. "Sorry I don't stroke your ego like everyone else." I said with a big smile. "She's a keeper!" Happy laughed.

"Come on Tony, I was kidding." I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "It's hard to tell." He replied, trying to fight off a smile. "Uh-huh. Come on, tonight is your night." I reminded him. That should make him feel better.

Millions of cars and millions of people wandered the streets leading up to the expo. He rented out the Hollywood Palladium for it (ironically). It was interesting to see how it has changed though, and boy has it changed. Lights led the way to the doors. I was even curious to see what was at the expo this year.

"We have to go in though the back." Tony said as Happy drove us to the other side. "Really?" I asked. "I could imagine you could just walk on in and no one would notice." Tony shook his head and grabbed my hand. "You and your sarcasm." He muttered. The car came to a stop after we passed though an area blocked off to the rest of the public. "Ladies first." Tony said, opening my door. "Thank you." I slid out of the car and looked around. Workers in yellow vest and security stood around the entrances. I could hear the large crowd inside from here.

"There must be thousands of people here." I commented as Tony got out from the car. "I guarantee it." He said. "You're not nervous are you? I would be." I heard two voices laughing. "I'm never nervous, hun." Tony said amused. Happy nodded in agreement. "That would be something to see."

Happy led the way to our entrance. "I have to get ready for my grand entrance, if you please." Tony informed me as we walked though a crowded hallway. "You can go ahead and go on out. Meet me back here afterwards. You have a deal to keep, remember?" The smile from earlier had turned into a smirk. "Yeah yeah, I didn't forget. I was hoping you would though. See you later." Tony gave me a kiss before he was whisked away.

I wandered around the palladium, watching people look at all the cool tech devices on display. I like to people watch. I'm not creepy, I promise. But it's really interesting. I did constantly scan the crowd for people of the press or anyone caring a camera or video camera. The last thing I need is some unflattering pictures of me showing up somewhere.

I finally stumbled upon the display for our department. There was just a vague explanation of things. I was glad it didn't go in too much detail. Most of it was classified anyways, so there wasn't much they could tell about it. "Hey Andrea!" Someone was waving at me. "Oh, hey Judy!" I said.

"So, enjoying yourself?" I asked as she walked my way. "Yeah, I am actually." There was a guy tagging along with her. "Andrea, this is Shawn." That was her boyfriend. I stuck out my hand to shake his. "Nice to meet you!" He said. "Yeah, nice to meet you too." Judy looked around me. "Did you come with Tony?" She asked. "Oh, yeah I did. He's getting ready though, and so I thought I would come and find our display." Shawn looked at me differently.

"Oh, so are _you're _Tony Stark's girlfriend?" He sneered. I took a step back and crossed my arms in front of me. "Yeah, yeah I am." I said shortly. Judy looked mortified. "I've read a lot about you then." He replied with a look on his face. "Can't always believe what we read though, can we?" I posed. There was silence between us as he continued to look at me."Nice seeing you, Judy." Shooting a look at Shawn, I quickly began walking the other way. The night had barely begun and it was already heading downhill.


	6. Chapter 6

Well-behaved women seldom make history."- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I had a sick feeling in my stomach after Shawn's rude comments. Did people really think badly of me? Sighing, I pushed it out of my mind. I don't care what people think. Let them wonder for all I care. I'm happy, and that's what matters. Still, I felt uncomfortable for a while.

Pressing my finger into my ear, I turned on the device. "Jarvis," I whispered as I walked though the throng of people here. "When's the show suppose to begin?" The AI unit answered me quickly. "In approximately 5 minutes, m'am." Five minutes. I tried to locate the stage in the large palladium.

"M'am?! Jarvis, what's wrong with you?!" I heard Tony on the other line. "I was talking to Miss Carheart, sir." I laughed to myself as I walked on. "Whatcha doing online?" He asked. "Wondering when I can hide backstage again." I heard him laughing on the other side. "You never told me you were afraid of large crowds, Andrea." To be fair, I am not afraid of large crowds. But, I can only put up with people for a certain time before I just want to leave. "I am not!" I defended myself. "See you soon Tony." Sticking my finger back in my ear, I pressed the button to turn it off. Someone gave me a strange look as I stuck my finger back in my ear. Flashing a smile, I walked on quickly.

I found a good spot to where I could see the stage well. This part was outside of the palladium, and I wondered why. My mind generated a few ideas of what Tony could possibly have up his sleeve. I knew there would be little or no women, to his disappointment. Leave it to him though to make it big, flashy, and grand though. Soon my wondering was brought to an end as a large applause erupted from the crowd. I assume it has begun.

The lights in the whole place dimmed instantly as the large monitors on the stage lit up. Images of Iron Man flashed across them in a sort of montage. Loud music started blaring from the speakers around the stage. I didn't recognize the song, but it had a loud base line and sounded sort of techno-y. People began to cheer loudly. Then the room went completely dark, but the music continued.

A single spotlight appeared on the stage. Something from the back of the stage began to walk forward. All we could see was the blue flight stabilizers and the arc reactor in the chest piece. The rest of it remained in the shadows, the single light producing a silhouette effect. The crowd was dead silent; the only thing making noise was the speakers. Then Iron Man lifted his head, showing us the lit up eye slits. Just as he did so, the music and spotlight quit. Then, the bass dropped. The lights came back on at the same time, completely shocking everyone as the music had shocked our ears. The monitors were flashing red and gold.

Then many different Iron Man's entered the stage. They looked different that the classic suit, some even having a totally different paint job, some with no paint at all. Everyone began to cheer again. I clapped though, because all of these suits were impressive. Some were bigger than the normal one in the middle. Each one began to show off a bit, and it appeared that each one did something that the others didn't. There must have been at least fifty of them up on the stage, each capable of doing something different. That was impressive. Then they began to part and the spotlight readjusted on the suit walking out. It was the classic red and gold one, and I assumed this was Tony. His hands were spread out wide and up in the air, taking in the praise he was getting from the crowd. I just clapped and shook my head.

He waved to everyone, making the crowd go wild. The face piece opened up to reveal Tony in this one. The noise grew even louder. His arms were at his sides now. Stretching them straight out, the whole entire suit fell off of him. The pieces blew back onto the stage, scattering everywhere. Everyone went crazy. One of the Iron Man suits stepped forward to hand Tony a microphone. "Thanks, 35." He said to it.

"Now," Tony began, "I have three questions for you." The crowd settled down a bit. "How much," He said, pausing. "Do I love you?" His head tilted to the side, flashing that charming Stark smile. Everyone went crazy again. Tony spoke again. "Two. How much do you love the Stark Expo?" There was more clapping and cheering this time around. The din seemed to grow with every passing second. It was absolutely crazy! Tony closed his eyes with a big smile on his face, feeding off the crowd. "And three." He spoke, making another pause for a dramatic effect. "How much do you love Iron Man?"

Screams and clapping erupted and the crowd was absolutely crazy. Tony tossed the microphone to the side. Sticking his arms back out again, the suit pieces began to fly off of the stage floor. Instantly they reassembled themselves around Tony. Placing his arms at his side, his hands out, he shot up into the air. The other suits on the stage followed his lead. Soon every single one of them was in the air. It was incredible. Red and gold fireworks were released to complete everything. "Good show, Tony." I whispered. "Good show."

As the crowd stood in awe of what they had witnessed before them, I began to weasel my way out. The people around me began to thin out and I made my journey without really running into any one. I walked towards the door that Happy was standing near. "Crazy, isn't it?" He said as I neared. A smile was on my face. "Tony's crazy." I stated. He let out a laugh and opened the door for me.

I tailed him down the hallway, but to where, I didn't know. "So how long have you worked for Tony?" I asked, trying to make some conversation. "Almost forever." He said, pulling another door open. "We can wait in here for him." Nodding, I walked inside. There was an old looking couch and a chair. The paint was flat and the lighting dim. I took a seat on the couch and Happy took the chair. I began to play with my fingernails. I had painted them the same color as my dress. It felt weird to have them painted, and sort of a pain. I would have to take it all off on Sunday before I went to work.

"Is your job going well?" Happy asked, leaning back in the chair some more. "Oh gosh." I said, looking up. "It's a great job, it really is. To know that I am making weapons that will protect American soldiers is a good feeling. The stress on me though is horrendous." Happy nodded like he understood. His job wasn't exactly easy either. Trying to protect someone who doesn't think they need to be protected is definitely not an easy task.

"He's fallen hard." He said softly. A quizzical look appeared upon my face. "He fell?" I asked aloud. Happy shook his head. "In love." He added. Oh. I didn't know what to say, so I remained silent. Tony told me he loved me, but it was rather odd to hear someone else talk about it. No one has really said anything to me about it, besides Judy.

"After Pepper passed away, he was a total wreck. A new girl every night, heavy drinking, taking unnecessary risk. I spent so much time with him because I was afraid…well, he was torn apart." He swallowed and took a pause. "I honestly thought that he would never go back to being the hot headed sarcastic guy I knew. That is, until a little while ago."

Tony and I had known each other for a while now, but it felt like forever if you counted 1958. I listened as Happy continued. "Just thought you should know." I nodded. I mean, I knew that Tony wouldn't have done well after Pepper's passing, but I didn't know that it was as severe as Happy made it out to be.

"I actually haven't dated in four years." I spoke at last, realizing why he was telling this to me. "I don't like to play around." Happy smiled. It was his job to protect Tony, and he was doing a good job of it. The last thing he needed was someone leaving so soon.

The door to the room opened up and Tony in his suit entered on in with the face open. He raised his hands up, a big smile on his face. "So, what did yah think?" He asked, knowing he had done an excellent job. "It was fantastic!" I exclaimed, standing up off the couch. My arms wrapped around his neck in a hug. I felt his metal arms hug me back. "You owe me a dance now." Tony whispered in my ear. "I know." I whispered back. I let go and stepped back. The suit fell off of Tony and then began to reassemble. "43, go on home." He said to the suit. It nodded and then left though the door.

My jaw dropped. "It…" Tony laughed. "Yeah, it can reform without someone inside." This made his show ten times even more impressive. "So no one was in the suits?" He nodded, picking up his suit jacket. "All of them were operated by Jarvis." I shook my head. He really was a genius. But I wasn't going to tell him that. "How many where there?" Happy asked. "43, including me."

"I thought that your latest one was 42?" Tony smiled. "Nope, it is now 43." It was amazing how fast he could whip up another one. "Totally different than 42." I shrugged. It looked the exact same, but I'm sure it was totally different in the way it worked and functioned. "Come on, let's go!" Tony said eagerly. Turning around once he reached the door, he spoke to Happy. "Go enjoy yourself. Meet you by the car. I'll call." With that, we were out the door.

"I really am impressed Tony." I said as he took my hand, leading me away. "What can I say, I aim to please." A smile was on his face. A dark pair of shades hid his eyes. "You look ridiculous wearing those inside." He just shrugged. "Or is it always sunny in Tonytown?"

Slowly he stopped walking. Turning to face me, he removed them from his face, tucking them into a pocket. "People will notice me now." He said. "But a lot of your colleagues are here, aren't they?" I tilted my head to the side. "Probably. What are you getting at?" Tony just smiled. "You want people to see you with me." Flinging my hand up, I slapped his arm. "Oh, your full of it!" Sometimes he's a bit too arrogant. He needs to come back to Earth.

"Why would I want to be seen with you right now? Your tie is all wrong, your hair is a complete mess, and your fly is undone." Tony looked taken aback. Quickly, one of his hands were smoothing down his hair while the other fixed his tie. I stood there with a huge smile. Tony dropped his hands and rolled his eyes, realizing that I was totally joking.

Still slightly annoyed with me, he wrapped an arm around my waist and began walking again. "You're just as bad as I am." He muttered. A smile remained on my face until we reached the dance floor. The first thing I noticed was a lot of people. Like, tons of them. Instantly the nerves inside me got worked up.

"Maybe you could take a raincheck?" I asked Tony. He shook his head. "I kept my part of the deal, which was very hard for me to do, as you know." I bit my bottom lip. "Well what if-" Tony was already shaking his head. "Are you afraid?" He teased, trying to get me to see this as a challenge. "Yes. I am very afraid." I admitted. "So do I still have to do it now?" He let out a laugh. "Yes, of course! You promised. Jarvis-" He began. "Okay, okay, I know." Cracking my fingers against my hand, I sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Tony smiled triumphantly. "I'll go stand over by the-" I immediately shook my head no. "Uh-un! You're coming with me!" Grabbing Tony by his wrist, I pulled him out there with me. "This was not part of the deal!" He shouted at me over the music. "Please! If I'm going to publicly embarrass myself, I'm taking you down with me!" The music was currently at a standstill, the end of the song fading.

I just stood there as the new song began. My feet felt glued to the floor and my stomach flipped inside of me. I hated people watching me or being the center of attention. I was completely mortified. The skin on my face felt hot underneath. "Come on, Andrea!" Tony said. "You did it in 1958!" I rolled my eyes. "I thought I was dreaming! Plus this is so different!" He laughed. "No it's not, not at all! This is my song too!" Still, I hadn't moved yet. "The song?" It didn't sound familiar to me. "I'm Sexy and I Know It!" I shook my head. "Here," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "Put your hands up," Lifting my arms up, I awaited instruction. "And move your body!"

I closed my eyes tightly and pretended I was alone. I found the baseline to the music and began to dance. I'm pretty sure it looked bad, but I was trying not to make a complete fool of myself. My hips moved around and I attempted to dance. "Open your eyes!" I heard Tony say. Slowly I moved my eyelids up. "See, you're not too bad!" He added, sounding a little impressed. I could tell he was holding back a laugh though. It seemed like a million eyes were on me and I closed my eyes again.

"Is it almost over?" I asked. I heard him laugh now. "Yeah, yeah, almost." I opened my eyes again and tried to have fun. My wide eyes watched Tony as I tried to block everyone else out. "Now you've got it!" He encouraged. The last phrase of the music rang out and the song was over. Within seconds I was clinging to Tony's arm. "Let's go before it starts again!" Tony chuckled and the two of us headed for safety.

We left the dance floor right before the new song began. Tony led me over to the bar area."That." Tony said, leaning against the counter. "Was so worth it." I felt like ducking underneath the bar area, but I couldn't. "Was it really that bad?" I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer to that. "No, actually, it wasn't. Now you have no excuse to not dance now." I wrinkled my nose. "It was terrifying." Tony let out a loud laugh. I turned my attention away from him to ask the bartender for some ginger ale. "Okay, so you can create and sell deadly chemical weapons to the government. You work with some of the most deadly substances on Earth. But when it comes to dancing, it's 'terrifying'?"

Rotating myself, I faced him, my elbow leaning up against the bar. "Okay, so you have a giant company that you run but you never show up for work or any of the meetings that you are suppose to be at. But when it comes to parties, you come early, stay late, and haven't missed a single one." His hand rested under his chin as he took in my words. "Touché." Tony reached out and took a large gulp of my drink. "Come on, why don't we look around and then meet Happy at the car?" I asked of him. "Alright, let's go." My arm laced though his arm and we were off.


	7. Chapter 7

"Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget."- Robert Jordan

(Warning: violence and sexual content)

Tony and I had wandered around the Expo. He pointed out things that I would have never noticed. Even though I didn't understand how everything worked as well as he did, I could tell that Tony was enjoying explaining things to me.

"Sorry," He apologized. Tony was in the middle of saying something when he yawned. "I know this isn't like me, but I'm feeling really tried." I gave him a shocked look. "Tony Stark? Tired?" He laughed it off. "Okay, well not totally tired. Both of us already know what we like to do after a long expo like this." Tony winked at me. Memories of the last time we were at an expo filled my head. "Then what are we waiting for?" I whispered. Tony pulled his phone from his pocket and called Happy. "Hey. I think I'll drive us home tonight."

A few cameras flashed as we made our way to the parking lot. I'm sure the press and reporters have been following us for a while. Many of them questioned Tony and ignored me, which I didn't mind at all. He definitely chatted them up though."Mr. Stark, can you make a comment?" Tony pulled the keys from his pocket. "Yeah, I can. I make a lot of them." There were some laughs at his witty reply, but he got into the car before she could restate her question.  
"Doesn't that get annoying?" I asked, quickly closing the door behind me. "Well, yeah," He said, shifting in his seat. Tony gave me a strange look before he faced forward. His hands were gripped tightly to the steering wheel. "Uh, Tony?" I asked, turning on the radio. "You okay?" He jolted at my words and then calmed down. "Y-yeah. I-I'm fine. Fine."

His head faced the windshield but he didn't turn the keys. "Okay," I said, leaning back in my seat. "Why don't we go ahead and leave?" I gently suggested. Blankly he looked at the steering wheel. Still, he didn't say anything. The radio was the only think making noise. "Tony?" I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Damn it, Andrea!" He snapped at me suddenly.

I removed my hand from him swiftly. "What?" I asked. Did he forget something? Or was he really mad at me for some reason? "Did I say something?" Tony shook his head. "No, sorry. Let's go."

Finally he turned the key all the way, starting up the car. We sped off and back onto the main road. I swayed in the car as Tony cut the turn sharp. "Geese! Be careful!" I yelled. A car honked at us as Tony pressed the petal to the floor. "I'll drive how I want to, woman." He retorted. My jaw dropped open. Why the sudden attitude change?

"I am not just a woman." I muttered. "Watch your mouth, Tony." I said louder. He snorted. "Don't tell me what to do." I rolled my eyes. "Excuse me?" I said, facing him. "It's like you're trying to get us killed!" We were around 85 and he was still accelerating. The sports car zoomed down the road and onto the one that was a straight shot to the house.

The trees and ocean were a blur at the speed we were traveling at. "Tony, slow down!" I shouted. We reached 90, and I honestly didn't want to see how fast the car could go. "Slow down!" I yelled again at him. It seemed like he was in a different world. He stared straight ahead of him and didn't even move when I spoke. Suddenly, he changed lanes. My head hit against his seat as the whole car suddenly lurched into the other lane. Sitting up straight, I saw headlights coming right at us.

"Oh my gosh! Tony!" I screamed. They came closer and closer. Their horn sounded as I realized we were going to be hit head on. Instantly the car changed directions and we somehow made it back into the other lane. My head hit against the window on my side form the sheer force of the car. "What are you doing?" I shouted at him. "Tony, look at me!" Still, his head remained forward, not a movement, not a twitch.

With his breathing, Tony's body moved forward and then backwards. Slowly, his hands slipped from the wheel. His eyes were gradually closing and he slumped down into his seat. "Tony!" I shouted again. No time to think. I stretched a foot over the console of the car. Feeling for the brake pedal, I slowed the car down some. My hands gripped the wheel to straighten out the car. Gingerly I got my other foot over the console. Keeping the wheel steady, I lowered myself down, sitting on top passed out Tony. He was even beginning to snore.

"What the heck?" I thought aloud. My heart was pounding inside of my chest and I could hear blood rushing into my ears. The severity of the past few moments sunk in. We almost died. To concentrate on driving, I pushed them out of my mind. Tony's rude comments came back into my mind instead. What was up? I mean, he's definitely not perfect, but he never really acted that way towards me before. A thought popped into my head. What if he's drunk? That would explain the loopy state that he seemed to be in.

Tony did drink a lot, and so that was the reasonable conclusion I came to. I, on the other hand, would not drink. I studied what it does to your body and your brain. No way would I ever drink after that lesson in biochemistry. I nagged Tony about it a lot too. It was okay if he had a few, but becoming totally wasted was not a good thing. He made a promise to cut down on it for me. I was touched, and he had kept that promise. Until now of course.

I guess I shouldn't have expected that from him though. It's highly addictive stuff, and this was his "big night" of the year. Still, the expo was no excuse for becoming drunk. Especially since he told Happy not to drive us home. My emotions change from fear to anger. How dare he? Everyone knows that drunk driving isn't safe! If he really cared about me like he said, he would have let me drive at least. My eyes became watery as I wallowed in my thoughts. _I am not going to cry_ I repeated inside my head. The lights of the house welcomed me home.

My spirits lifted as we neared the house. Tony had moved a bit underneath me, but no words between us had been exchanged. I didn't even know if he was awake or not. The gate opened up and I drove us on inside. I left the car in the drive way and took the keys out of it. "Tony?" I whispered. His body lay still beneath me. With the keys in hand, I opened the door. Climbing out and off, I peered back inside the car. Tony's mouth was agape, a soft noise emitting from him when he breathed. My hands wedged underneath his armpits and I began to pull. It took a lot of effort and all my strength, but I had half of him out of the car. Suddenly, his eyes flashed opened.

"Where are we?" He asked, sounding half asleep. "We're home, Tony." I said. He slowly came around as I was pulling him out. "I got it." He said shortly. Still, my hands remained on him. He was drunk, he had no clue what he was doing. "I said I got it." Slowly my hands slid off of him. Tony stood up and faced me. "You need to listen to me!" He shouted. Before I could get a word out of my mouth he slapped me across the face. My eyes widened and my hand raced to protect me. My next reaction was purely instinct, so I slapped him back, right across the face like he did to me. "What was that for!" I yelled.

Tony walked closer to me. I eyed the car behind him. If I could just get in it and lock the doors, I would be okay. I felt scared, to be honest. There was something in his eyes that told me I should be. "Stupid alcohol." I mumbled under my breath. Taking a step to the right, Tony did too. I acted like I was going to go left, and he fell for it. Taking off, I raced for the open driver's door of the car. I still had the keys in my hand. I got a hold of the car right as I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. "Let me go! You don't know what you're doing!" I shouted at him. My hand grabbed the inside of the door with all my might. I was no match for Tony though. With another yank, I was free of the car and the keys that I possessed. "Let me go! Let me go!" I cried out.

His grip only tightened on me as he pulled me away from the car. Lifting me up into the air, he threw me over his shoulder. I swung my feet, hoping to hit him and he would drop me. The only thing it did was make him move me farther over his shoulder. My head wasn't too far from the ground anymore. My body was jerked up and down as he walked towards the door. "Tony!" I pleaded.

"Oh, shut up!" He replied. "Jarvis, open the door." Tony demanded. The AI didn't reply but the door opened. "Jarvis!" I screamed, relieved that he was here. "Tony is hammered! He's acting extremely violent!" I felt my body shake some more. My fist pounded into his back, but no reaction. "Stop talking!" He demanded. My body flew though the air as he tossed me onto the couch. "Would you like me to call the police, m'am?" Jarvis asked. Police. That would be bad press for Tony. Even as mad at him as I am, that would just be cruel. He would go to jail probably for this. "No! Don't call the police! Call Happy!" I asked. Tony smacked me across the face again.

"I told you to shut up!" He shouted at me again. His eyes were now dilated and they gave off a creepy air to them. I had never seen Tony so angry before, or so violent. "Calling Happy. Sir, why don't you try calming down?" Jarvis requested. "Be quiet! Do not call Happy Jarvis." Slowly, I slid off my heels with my foot. I didn't want to make any sudden movements to distract Tony. "Sorry sir, but I must." I cringed as one of my heels fell over. Tony's full attention was back on me now. I have never seen someone so angry before in my life.

"Stay still!" He yelled at me. "Don't you dare think of moving!" I had ended up in the corner of the couch. If I could just grab my shoe, I could use it to get away. "Happy is not answering, m'am." Jarvis sounded. In my mind I ran though who to call next. "Try reaching Natasha!" I said quickly. Tony lunged at me. His hands roughly grabbed my shoulder. He began to shake me back and forth. "I said to shut up!" Lifting my leg up, I nailed him right in the gut. He staggered back a few steps, full of shock at what I had just done.

"You little-" A string of curse words followed that, but I wasn't really listening. I leaped off the couch and sprinted past Tony. I raced towards the bathroom. It was one of the only rooms that had a door and a door that locked. My feet slipped on the stone floors and I ran forward. Something impaled my back. I fell forward onto the floor, hitting the rug. I let out a little cry because whatever it was hurt. A hand grabbed hold of my ankle and I felt myself slide backwards. My fingers clawed at the rug and then at the floor. I knew it wouldn't do me any good, but it was worth a shot.

"M'am, I tried to reach Natasha, Bruce, Steve, and Clint. None picked up. May I contact the police?" Jarvis requested again. "No! I can't have you do that!" Something inside me still didn't like the idea of having Tony arrested. I couldn't do that. "Jarvis, the suit! Can you activate a suit to come save me!" Tony slapped a hand over my mouth. He stood over my body. The hands around my ankles were gone, and his other hand was around my midsection. Pressing a foot onto my back, I was squished into the floor.

"Activating 42, m'am." I heard something from the garage and I felt relieved. I couldn't thank the AI, but I would have to. "No, Jarvis!" Tony yelled out. He did not reply though. The hand across my mouth was removed and he began to pick me up off the floor. I fought my way out of his hands. Standing up, I tried to run for it again. Quickly his arms caught around my waist. "Tony! Let go!" I shouted. His grip only tightened as he began ascending the stairs. I was not completely off the ground so my heels hit each step. "You're hurting me!"

He seemed to pause for a second before he continued. I tugged at his hands around me. "Jarvis, hurry!" We reached the top of the stairs and Tony still continued to drag me. "Hurrying, miss." He replied. I heard something coming up the stairs after us. Tony rushed me into his bedroom. "42, shut down!" He yelled into the hallway. "Takes care of him." With a lot of force, I was thrown down onto the bed. "Jarvis, start it up again." There was a moment of silence. "I cannot override that command, m'am. I am not programmed to." He sounded sorry.

"Gosh dang it, Tony!" I exclaimed. His hands pressed my wrist into the mattress. Tony began to climb onto the bed, directly over me. "Tony, you're drunk." I kept repeating, hoping that he would realize. "I know exactly what I am doing." He whispered. My eyes snapped shut and then reopened. I hated this. It was like another man had taken over his body. My wrist were forced together and he held them down with one hand. The other traveled down my body to my legs.

"Get off me!" I yelled. Tony still just smiled at me. His hand reached up my dress. Lifting up my knee, I jammed it upwards as hard as I could. Tony's legs collapsed. At the same time, I brought my head forward, slamming mine into his. As he released me, I slid off the bed. The inside of my legs burned from being forced down so hard.

Grabbing onto the nightstand, I stood up. The suit came back into my head. If I could get to the suit, I would be okay. In my moment of brilliance, Tony had recovered. As I ran forward I was yanked backwards. His hands wrapped around my wrist tightly. Tony fought me down to the ground. I was still kicking when he placed his foot down hard on my head. It smacked the stone below and my vision blurred. I knew I just had to keep myself conscience.

Fighting against my eyes, I regained my vision. "Tony." I whispered again. This whole thing was tearing me apart, and not just on the outside. I couldn't live with this. I couldn't do it. The nightstand rattled as Tony littered its contents onto the floor. "Got it." He muttered. I tried to sit up but my head began to throb again. My body heaved with each breath I took. The last thing I wanted to do was surrender, but I almost had no choice. I raised my hands to protect myself. Forcefully he gathered my wrist and crossed them. I heard a loud noise as they were held up against the bed. Ziptie. I pulled at the restraint but I wasn't nearly strong enough to pull it off of the bed frame. My body finally rested against the floor as I accepted that I was not going anywhere.

Tony undid his jacket and tossed it on the bed. "Why do you always have to be so much of a pain? You're like a thorn in my side." I let my eyes close. I didn't want to hear it. A whole slew of rude angry comments bombarded my ears. I reopened my eyes to see Tony taking of his shirt. "You think you're so superior to me too, don't you? I knew dating a smart girl was a stupid idea!"

In my mind I kept telling myself he was drunk, but part of me almost believed what he was saying. Now Tony was down to his pants. I could see that he was having trouble staying awake now. He had to force his eyes to stay open. It looked like he may just pass out any second. Still though, he was undressing. "Tony please!" I begged. "Think about what you are doing!" He stood naked in front of me. "Oh, I am." He replied. Frustrated, I tugged more at the ziptie. Tony began to approach me, but something happened. His eyes kept closing and closing some more. He struggled to stand up straight. Grabbing a hold of the bed, he then passed out. Half of his body lay on it while his legs dangled off. Slowly he slid down and landed with a thump on the floor. A sigh of relief escaped my body.

My head continued to throb though, but Tony didn't move a muscle. "Jarvis, lock up the house for me please." I heard a noise and I assumed it was the doors. "Done. Are you sure you do not want me-" I already knew the answer. "No, Jarvis, don't call the police." The AI stayed silent. I couldn't bare to do that. I struggled with the zip tie as much as I could before giving up. This was going to be a long night.


	8. Chapter 8

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."–Charlotte Bronte

_It was like I was swimming though thick water. A bright light shined above me as I tried to make it to the top. My whole body was in pain, my lungs about to explode. Suddenly the scene changes. I am yelling, at what, I do not know. I feel the ground below me teeter. In front of me Andrea appears, yelling at me to stay. Energy pulse though me and I felt my heart stop. Letting go, I fell back into a dark pit. A light blue light flashed before me.  
_  
I shot up in bed. My eyes were wide open, my body still recovering from the lifelike dream. On my arms and legs I saw beads of sweat. Raising a hand, I wiped some from my brow. _Where in the world am I?_ The room was very white and a lot of light came though the wall completely composed of windows. I stared out it into the ocean. My attention turned back to the room again. Something from the nightstand was on the floor and the draw's contents were spilt out on the ground. My head was throbbing. It felt like I had a really bad hangover. I placed a hand over my stomach. I also felt sick.

The bed squeaked as I shifted my weight. I stretched my arms out in front of me. Something cracked and my muscles relaxed. My legs swung over to the side of the bed. _Why am I naked?_ Something on the floor caught my attention. Andrea was still in her dress from the expo. Both of her hands were ziptied to the bed frame. Racking my brain, I tried to remember last night. Nothing came to me though. My eyes squeezed shut and I reopened them. I noticed that the side of her face was stained bright red.

Lowering myself down onto the ground, I took her face in my hands. She began to stir. Maybe she would have answers. Her eyes flashed open as I stroked her hair. At first she seemed happy, a small smile upon her face. Instantly, her mood changed. "Get off of me you drunk bastard!"

My hands flew back from her face and I scrambled off of the ground. Andrea kicked at the air, shaking her hands in an attempt to free them. I had never heard her curse before, and it startled me, because whatever it was, she was pissed at me. Before I could say anything she screamed at me again. "Get my hands out of this, you stupid jerk!"

Angry women scare me. There, I said it. But it is true. Andrea was absolutely livid. I scrambled to try and remember something, anything, but the last memory I had was calling Happy at the expo.

Obeying Andrea, I ran into the bathroom. Locating a pair of scissors, I snatched them up off the counter. I made my way back into the room and kneeled down on the floor. "Hold still." Sliding the scissors underneath the ziptie, I pushed down with my sore muscles. There was a snap and the strong little piece of plastic fell to the floor.

"Get off of me!" She screamed. I leaned up, my hands in the air. What did I do? Swinging her hand back, she hit me across the face. "What were you even thinking?! Driving me home when you're completely wasted!" She started, getting up off the ground. "How dare you!"

I stood up next to her, still totally confused at why she was yelling. Driving home? Didn't Happy take us home? "You and your stupid addiction! You promised me! You _promised_ me!" Grabbing the thing nearest to her, which so happened to be a notebook, she wielded it as a weapon. She smacked me with it across my chest repeatedly. "It's always about you!" I backed up, but she kept hitting me with it. "You can't just drink your problems away!" My hands came up to block it and my back hit the wall.

"Where am I?" I asked. The notebook struck me a few more times before she slowly lowered it. The anger flushed from her eyes and she looked human again."Your home, Tony. Of course you wouldn't remember, you were wasted." Mere snapshots of the road and other cars came into my mind. "I was driving?" Andrea took a step away from me. "Yeah, until you passed out."

Alarm struck me. "I passed out while I was driving?!" She nodded. "I had to climb over there and save us. You almost got us killed! If you were so drunk, why didn't you just let Happy take us home!" She screamed. The notebook was raised and I cringed back against the wall. "I don't know! I don't remember!" I replied rather weakly.

Her eyes squinted and were now slits. Taking her hands, she planted them sassily on her hips. "Yeah, I know you don't. Your selfish personality didn't think about that one, huh?" Did I drink that much? I felt ashamed, really I did, and that's a rare feeling for me. My eyes shifted down from her harsh glaze.

"Why didn't you call the police?" I asked quietly. Andrea looked away, breathing in loudly. "Honestly, I should have." She spat. Something at the back of my mind nagged me, but it was like I couldn't hear it. A memory was there, or maybe a thought. My eyes wandered back up to her face. "Did I…" My voice faded as I took a clear look at her face. The large red mark I noticed looked much worse up close. I could see tiny red streaks along her cheek, and I knew they were from my fingernails. "You did, you-you.." She struggled for another insult. "Monster!"

The word hit me hard. I couldn't recall a time when I had become extremely violent, but then again, I couldn't quite remember much yet. Is that how she saw me now though, a monster? The realization of exactly what I had done made me sick to my stomach. My knees began to give way, and slowly I fell to the ground. Inside me my stomach lurched. Extending one arm, I held myself up while the other grabbed my stomach. The acid crept up my throat and I thought I was going to vomit.

Then I remembered.

"Jarvis," I said, leaning slowly back into a sitting position. My arm was wrapped around my stomach still. "Replay our conversation at the expo." Soon my AI system had retrieved the audio from the audio files and played it over the speakers in this room. "Okay, Jarvis. You're going to be operating 43 suits, got it?" My voice was sort of muffled by the noises from inside the room. "Yes, sir. Better question, are you?" I could hear me laugh at Jarvis's question. "Yeah, I am. Look, I promised I would cut back, okay? No alcohol this time."

Jarvis cut the conversation there, realizing that was the part I needed Andrea to hear. "There was no alcohol content in his blood, miss." Jarvis stated. "At least before appearing." Andrea's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about it. "You didn't have anything to drink?" She asked, confused now to what had occurred. "No. I was with you the whole time afterwards, and I didn't drink then either. I never had a drink."

She looked at me with a blank expression. She was unsure what to think. I was unsure too. I couldn't even remember that this was my own house. My head continued to pound and the sick feeling only increased. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. Her lips slowly parted, as if to say something. It wasn't ever said though. It was like something inside her head clicked. The corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly. Turning on her heels, she walked into the bathroom.

"Here," She said, exiting with a glass. "I need you to pee in it. Meet me downstairs. You better hope this is it, or so help me Tony Stark!" She finished her sentence as she ran down the stairs. "What the-" I asked aloud, at no one in particular.

After peeing in the glass, I pulled on a pair of underwear and shorts. Grabbing the glass, I raced down the stairs. I clicked in the code the garage and walked on in. Andrea had some of her lab equipment in here. Since I always worked down here, I thought it would be nice to have someone to work with. Saving her trips to run back and forth to work on the weekends to check on experiments, I set up some basic equipment and a holographic set up of the lab was installed to one of the panels.

Andrea stood behind one of the machines she used a lot. She had powered it up and was telling Jarvis some things about it. "I am going to misuse it, okay? Instead of its purpose, we are going to use it to find an unknown chemical. So basically reverse the process for me." Jarvis was quick to comply. "Alright, Miss Carheart. Once it's inserted, I will run the machine in reverse for you." Her attention turned to me. "Bring it here."

The harsh tone in her voice had not faded yet. Walking across the lab, I gave her the glass. Pulling a pair of gloves from the box on the table, she stretched them on over her petite hands. Her hair that was free flowing was now tied back and out of her face. Reaching across to the table near me, she picked up a plastic tube. I recognized that it was a pipette. On the desk she was working on lay a small test tube like container. Andrea lowered the pipette into the glass and sucked out a certain amount. Lifting the container to the end of it, she piped it into it. Part of the machine opened up, revealing ten or so spots for the tiny containers. She placed it in one of the holes and there was a click. Lowering the lid back down on top of it, she pressed one of the many buttons on it. There was a low hum and the machine began the process.

"If what you say is true," She began. "That you indeed were not drunk, then I think I may know what happened to you. This machine will give us the answer. Until then, back off. You're still in trouble." My hands rose into the air and I took a step back. "I-" She didn't even let me finish. Raising a hand to silence me, she began to talk to Jarvis. "If I am correct, we are going to be looking for a type of muscle relaxant, sedative, thingS like benzodiazepines."

I had no clue what was going on exactly, or what she thought happened. But she was still angry, so I didn't push it like I normally would have. I was still in a mild state of confusion. Leaning against the table, I tried to get a better look of her face. I couldn't believe I did that. The thought of hurting her like that was absolutely painful. It hurt me too.

"Alright, m'am. It may be recognizable." Jarvis said after quite some time. Andrea's eyes lit up again. I guess this was good news, but I was still rather lost at this point. "What was it?" She asked eagerly. Jarvis was silent for a while before confirming her suspicions. "Flunitrazepam. Rohypnol to be specific, m'am."  
Andrea dropped the pipette she was fiddling with instantly. Her arms spread open and she tackled me into a hug. _What the heck is going on?_

I wrapped my arms around her and stood there, unsure of why she was angry with me one moment and thrilled the next. My hands rubbed her back as she nuzzled her face into my chest. "Lucy, you've got some 'splaining to do." I said at last. She laughed at my comment and pulled her face away. "I didn't want to believe that you were drunk Tony, I really didn't but-" Gently I placed my fingers on her lips. "You think logically and it was the only thing you could come up with." I finished for her. Silently she nodded. "Alright, well, tell me, what the heck happened?"

Andrea turned to one of the hologram panels. "Jarvis, pull up information on roofies for me." I had heard of that before, but I didn't want to interrupt. Soon a web page was pulled up. "This, is Rohypnol. It is currently an illegal sedative in the United States. It is also known as roofies, or what we know as a date rape drug." I stared at her for a second. Date rape drug? "Uh, okay, first, how did someone slip me the date rape drug? And well I know I am not a medical nerd like you," I motioned to her. "But isn't a sedative suppose to make you fall asleep?"

Andrea smiled at me, looking mildly impressed, "Well, you ingested the drug." I raised my hand, mimicking a school child. "Yes, Tony?" She asked, rolling her eyes. "I didn't drink anything. How did I ingest it?" She raised a finger. "Oh, but you did! I ordered a ginger ale after my terrifying dance experience. You took a large gulp of it before whisking me away to the rest of your magical expo." Things were making sense now. "So the drug was meant for you to drink, but I drank it instead." Andrea nodded.

"Exactly! So someone was trying to sedate me, and instead you drank it." Okay, that mad enough sense, because she was the one suppose to be drinking it. Anger began to weld up inside of me. "So did someone want to…" I didn't want to finish the sentence, but I alluded to what I was asking. "I don't know." She said quietly. "But I can answer your second question." I looked back up at her and she continued.

"Rohypnol is a sedative; therefore it has the likelihood of causing what is called a paradoxical reaction." The article Jarvis had pulled up scrolled down to the part about paradoxical reaction. "This means that certain individuals reacted completely different than what the drug is suppose to do. In this case, the symptoms include anxiety, aggressiveness, confusion, agitation, loss of impulse control, talkativeness, violent behavior, and disinhibition" The long string of symptoms was on the screen and I read them as she said them aloud. "What was the last one?" I asked. I had no clue what it meant. "It's sort of like when you can't control impulses,self control is an example. Like over eating or hypersexual behavior."

I raised my eyebrows and opened to say something witty or inappropriate about it, but Andrea beat me to it. "Take that back, that last one may be normal for you." The side of my mouth turned upwards in a smile. My hand rubbed my chin as I thought about it. The image of Andrea tied to the bed popped into my mind. "Did I?" I didn't have to elaborate on my question for her to get it. Andrea shook her head no. "You passed out on the bed." Now waking up naked made sense. "Good." I was relieved. "So, this is what happened?"

Andrea nodded and tossed her gloves in the trashcan. "Yeah. You tested positive and met most of the symptoms of the paradoxical reaction. Science states that's what it was." I never thought a medication could make you act violently like I had. I see why it's currently illegal. "I'm sorry I beat you with a notebook." She said sheepishly, pulling her hair out of her ponytail. "I probably deserved that."

Andrea was smart, but I still had a few questions. "How in the world was a rare paradoxical reaction one of the first thoughts in your mind?" She let out a laugh and leaned against the table. "Well, I actually wrote a term paper on the effects of sedatives on lab rats. One or two experiences a paradoxical reaction." That made more sense.

My hand skimmed across the red part of her face. "I'm so sorry I did this to you." I whispered. Her hand held onto mine. "You didn't know what you were doing." She replied. "Plus, you didn't hurt me that bad." I highly doubted that, but I still could not remember. "Tell me what I did to you." I asked. Slowly she shook her head no. "It wasn't you, it was the Rohyphnol. Tony, don't beat yourself up over it." My other hand caressed her cheek. "I've beaten you up over it. Andrea, I can't live with myself knowing that I hurt you like that." I shifted my gaze away from her face. "I'm too dangerous to be around. It seems like everyone I get close to gets hurt. Or ends up dead." I said rather coldly. But, it was definitely true.

"No, you're wrong." She said at last, her hands turning my face to look at her. "You saved me. If you wouldn't have gulped it down and then led me away, I would have drunk it. I would have passed out from it, and someone was obviously trying to sedate me." She had an odd way of thinking for sure, because that was not how I see it. I hurt her but she thinks of some other way in which I helped her. "You're still my hero, Tony Stark." She whispered softly.

My hands remained against her face as I pulled her closer. Gently I pressed her lips against mine. Her hands on my face were now running though my hair. My hands ran down her lovely body, feeling every curve. Slowly, she pulled her face away. "I think you need some proper sleep." I didn't want to agree, but I knew that I did. "I'll make dinner and call you down when it's done."

It was almost one in the morning, and I still was restless and awake in bed. Sliding my arm out from under Andrea, I then pulled the covers off of me. My feet touched down on the floor lightly and I headed towards the exit. I made my way down the stairs and then into my garage. "Hello, sir. What are you doing up this early?" Jarvis questioned. Locating my office chair, I plopped down into it. "Jarvis show me the security footage of last night." There was a silent pause before he replied. "Sir, are you sure that-" Frustrated, I waved my hand in the air. "Show me the footage." I demanded. A holographic screen appeared in front of me. "Starting from when the car entered the gate, sir." He informed. Leaning back, I watched myself hurt the one I love.


	9. Chapter 9

"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."- Ann Richards

Tony and I spent the rest of the weekend trying to piece together what had occurred. His memory was still quite fuzzy, and trying to get him to remember certain details was hard. Finally, we came up with what had occurred.

"Okay, so after the show we walked around." I stated, taking a seat on top of Tony's desk. Holograms with articles, video, and a notepad surrounded the two of us. "Right, and that's when the predator found his prey." He replied, me being the prey and the sedater being the predator. "He or she could have followed me when I was walking around waiting for the show to start. Either way, I was chosen." Tony gave a nod, writing in the air on the holographic notebook. "Next, we went out on the dance floor. We would have been dancing for around three minutes. I think that's how long the song is."

"Three minutes and twenty-one seconds, sir." Jarvis corrected. Tony rolled his eyes. "Okay, three minutes and twenty-one seconds." I smiled. "Then I dragged you off the dance floor, and the two of us leaned up against the bar." Tony gave a nod, recording it down in the notebook. "That's when you ordered your ginger ale and we chatted." The memory came back in my mind. "When I got it, you took it from me."

"I took a large sip, which was almost all that was in that little shot glass the bartender put it in." Sighing, I slid off the desk and stood up. "Why would you put ginger ale in a shot glass anyways?" Tony finished writing and shrugged. "I don't know." I racked my brain for a logical answer. "Concentration maybe?" His hand stroked his chin as he considered it.

"The smaller amount of liquid means that they wouldn't need as much Rohpynol." That could have been it. "Or," I added, "It was more concentrated with the Rohpynol. A small amount of it wouldn't have caused a reaction like you had. The drink must have been awfully spiked with it."

"That sounds more logical." Tony said at last, writing it down on the note pad. "You still sure it was for you?" I gave a nod. "Jarvis, the roofies article." The article surfaced in front of me. Flinging my hand up, it scrolled thought the article. Holding my hand up as to say stop, it did. My eyes skimmed over the article. Finally I found what I was looking for. Running my finger over the sentences I wanted, they became highlighted. Pointing my finger at it, I then drew my hand back. The sentence flew off of the article and appeared in large print in front of Tony and me.

"Alcohol may cause more adverse effects from the drug. In combination with alcohol, there is an increased likelihood of toxicity and death."  
I read the sentence aloud to him, my words seeming to hang in the quiet air. Looking over at him, I knew both of us were thinking the same thing. "Whoever it was would have had to had know that you don't drink. Unless…" I finished his sentence. "They wanted me dead."

"It's not a very known fact that I don't drink either." Tony stared at me, looking very alarmed. His slouching posture had straightened up and his lips were pinched together. "You can't go back to work."

My jaw dropped open and I felt like laughing. "Excuse me? Tony, I love my job! If I don't show up, that whole department will be chaos!" His hand rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "If you go, you risk getting sedated without you even knowing it. I can't let that happen to you."

Now he was just being irrational and overprotective. "At work? What's the chances of that? Come on, Tony. I'm not a child." He stood up of out his chair and walked towards me. "No, but I could pull the I'm-your-boss-and-you-have-to-do-what-I-say card." A smile appeared on his face. "Because I think you're forgetting I can do that."

"Well, according to my contract you can't" I rebutted. I turned my back to him. "I promised." He blurted out. "Promised what?" I inquired, turning back around to face him. "To protect you."

_My head rested on his shoulder as I felt his warm breath in my ear."I'm going to get us out. How? I don't know. When? No clue. But I will, I promise, I will…" He tapered off into nothing. "Protect me." I finished for him. "Yes," He whispered back. "I will protect you."  
_  
I was impressed that he remembered that. Sometimes we say words that are hollow, and I assumed that he did that a lot. Hollow promises, meaningless I love you's, emotionless kisses. That however, I learned, was definitely not Tony.

"You remembered." I whispered aloud. He smiled. "Does that mean you will stay here?" I rolled my eyes. "No. " Tony let out a sigh, tossing his hands into the air. "I guess I cannot stop you. But," He said, his smile reappearing. "You can leave your ear piece on the whole time so Jarvis can monitor you."

Jarvis was not going to have to babysit me. "Don't you think your overreacting?" Tony looked at me incredulously. "I don't think your reacting enough!" A thought popped into my mind. "Let me guess, your reacting this way because you feel guilty because you physically hurt me. Now you're trying to make up for it by protecting me, in turn keeping me here with you, showing me that you are still a good guy."

Tony's hand smacked into the side of his face as he breathed in and out loudly. "Leme guess, you wanted to become a psychologist at one point too, right? Or were those classes for fun as well?" He teased me, but clearly I was right. "No, I was required to take behavioral science classes. They were not fun." I honestly didn't enjoy them.

"You hit the nail on the head." He said at last. I knew I had. He thinks he's so hard to read. Psh. "I know." Tony looked over at me with an annoyed look. "Oh, sorry, I forget you know everything."

"Hey, calm down." I said, putting a hand on his chest. "I am going to be fine, Tony." He closed his eyes and swallowed. "Leave your earpiece on, please." I nodded. "Alright, I'll do that for you, mainly because I have never heard you say please." He snorted and kissed my forehead. "Come on, let's go get dinner started." The two of us walked up the stairs, leaving our work in the garage behind us.

* * *

"And the striking number of people that H1N1 has taken is still continuing to grow. 500,000 victims have now almost reached 700,000. The flu is not just staying in Central America now. Cases have been reported in the upper reign of South America and the lower parts of Mexico. Many who have not reviewed the flu vaccine are now having the opportunity thanks to the help of volunteers. For the 250,000 that have passed, these efforts are too late. Whether the flu will spread into the United States is unknown at this time. The CDC is taking precautions to try and prevent the spread of H1N1. Many hospitals around the country are gearing up for a rough flu season. This is Mike Remolds reporting from Honduras."

* * *

The Monday following this weekend was tough. My alarm clock had become unplugged during my struggle with Tony. Jarvis woke me up ten minutes before I had to leave. Tossing on a plaid skirt and a simple blazer, I rushed downstairs.

The smell of something burning emitted from the kitchen. Sliding out in his socks, Tony met up with me. "Here's breakfast. Sorry, it's a bit crispy." The bagel was very dark brown, the edges completely charred. A glop of peanut butter was melting on it, but it wasn't spread over the entire bagel. "And," Tony added, digging in the pockets of his apron (why he was wearing it, I don't know). His eyes closed and he took a breath in. It looked like it was very painful. "The keys to my blue Audi."

"What's the reason I have to take the blue one?" Tony laughed. "You need to speed to make it on time!" Remembering that I was going to be late, I sloppy kissed him on the cheek and rushed out the door. "You're a lifesaver, Tony!" He had a smirk on his face. "What can I say? I already know I am amazing." There was the arrogance I knew.

"I love you!" I shouted to him as I ran towards the car. "I love you more! And don't scratch the car!" He replied. Rolling my eyes, I pulled the door open. I had only been inside the blue one a few times actually. The dashboard was completely different, but after I located the speedometer, I was fine. Throwing it in neutral, I pressed on the gas a few times before quickly shifting to drive. I sped out of the gate faster than I ever had before. In my mind I could just see Tony cringing in the doorway.

I straightened out my skirt as I held on to my metal clipboard. Quickly I was shuffling info my office, followed by Judy. "Oh, Miss Carheart!" She said, barely tailing behind me. She looked awfully surprised to see me in the office today, which if I had to say something about that, I would say its odd.

There is a cafeteria area right before you hit the lab stations. Today Benedict and Judy were sipping their coffee nonchalantly as I was sprinting on by. Quickly she realized it was me and followed me all the way to my office.

"I thought you may have called in today! I didn't hear anything from you!" Was her excuse. Usually she wasn't this flustered. "Judy, its fine." I stressed for the millionth time. "I am just always so prepared and-" Secretly I rolled my eyes. "It's fine." I repeated.

A bouquet of roses was on my desk. They made me smile. Darn Tony and his charmingly romantic ways. I had caught on that each set of flowers he sent meant something. Different color roses and certain flowers all had a symbol of some sort. This week the roses were a beautiful coral color. I had received these before and knew what they stood for. Coral was for desire.

"Okay, so let me hit the major points of your week." Judy began listing off all the special meetings I had with people this week. I was relieved that none of them were with the government. Those sorts of meetings were very intense. I was bombarded with loads of questions on anything from how to pronounce the name to how fatal the chemical could be. "Thursday is a lunch out with some big representatives from the chemical manufacture American Chemical Company. ACC is one of our major suppliers, and would like to talk business over lunch." Ugh, that was going to be an enjoyable lunch. She blabbed on for a few more minutes, but I was lost in my own thoughts.

"Oh and Benedict was trying to arrange some time for you two later in the week. He sat me down with me over coffee and we worked in some time for you guys every day." Sighing, I brushed some stray bagel crumbs off my blazer. "Okay, so when do I work with him today? Please tell me I don't have to move the two o'clock again!" I really hated scheduling.

"No, I made sure of that for you. If we move two o'clock again, I don't this they would reappear for the next one." I let out a laugh to agree with her. "You meet around twelve today." Giving a nod, I was back to my in depth paper work.

Twelve came around soon enough and I was waltzing though the labs once again. "Okay, lay it on me, Donovan." I said, entering and sitting down on the corner of his desk. Benedicts hands were covered in expo marker and the board had black smudges placed intermittently. "Ah, Miss Carheart, I wasn't expecting you so soon." He said, not bothering to turn around and look at me.

"Well, here I am!" I replied. I thought Judy had set this whole thing up? He finally spun around to meet my gaze. "Here you are." He repeated slower. My eyes shot up to his white board. Equations and a chemical compound of some sort were scribbled across it. "Looks like you've gotten a lot done." I was mildly impressed. Then again, he did have all weekend to do it. I had to attended and expo, fought off Tony Stark, and then had to run a drug test to figure out what the heck happened.

Benedict had correlated with the geneticist to create a base for a biochemical that could be genetically engineered. It was absolutely fascinating, and what was even better is that it was possible for such a thing to be created. After he finished his speel, I had a brilliant plan in my head.

"This really is great Benedict. You, me, and two others, probably two techs, Kim and Joe maybe? Well, I'll get a team together so we can begin the researching process." Benedict nodded. "Who will it be accredited to?" The question took me aback. Not many would ask if they get full credit or not, and that's what I believed he was getting at.

"To everyone who put an effort into it." I stated generally, that way my words couldn't come back to bite me. "I believe in fair credit, Donovan." For some reason, I could sense he didn't believe me. "Of course." He replied at last. Standing up, I glanced at the board one more time. I approached it, picking the marker up off the stand. Rubbing out part of the chemical compound, I replaced it with the correct connection. He gave me a look that I didn't like. It reminded me of when Tony corrected me on my first day of work. "See you tomorrow." I said shortly. The doors parted and I headed back to my office.


	10. Chapter 10

"The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy."-Yves Saint-Laurent

My hand rummaged through the drawer, but still I couldn't find what I needed. Finally I passed over a sharp object. Yanking it open some more, I grabbed them by the handle. Using the scissors, I glided them though the tape sealing my mysterious package. With my hands I pulled the rest of it away.

It was just a normal Tuesday at work until I got a call from Tony in my ear piece. "Why didn't you just use the phone like everyone else?" I whispered. The sudden loud noise in my ear made me jump at my desk, causing Judy to look at me suspiciously.

"Excuse me." I told her, standing up and heading towards the bathroom. After locking the door behind me, I waited for Tony to explain. "It's not safe." He replied. "Not safe?" I asked. Why wouldn't it be safe? "What is this about?" There was some shuffling in the background. "Do you know a Mr. Galigur?"

The name instantly brought me back to my college days. Prof. Galigur was my wacky chemistry teacher that I had for most of my chemistry classes. Okay, I was probably one of his favorite students too, so I really enjoyed his classes. The two of us had kept in good contact when I graduated, and he was always sending me interesting articles or new discoveries that he thought would intrigue me.

"Yeah, he was my chemistry professor at CalTech. Just leave the email alone, its probably just something he thought I would be interested in." I was about to say goodbye when Tony spoke up. "Oh, okay teacher's pet," I rolled my eyes. "He sent you a package."

"Oh, that's nice of him." I replied. "Well…" Tony's voice faded on the other line. "Well, what?" I asked, curios to why he was being so weird about it. "A refrigerated truck pulled up in front of the house and made me sign for this box. It has the biohazard mark stamped a few times across it."

The biohazard mark? Why would he be sending me something hazardous? I was tempted to leave work and open it up now, but I didn't. "Uh…okay. I have no clue what it could be. Clear out a space in the fridge near the bottom. Wrap the box in saran wrap and then stick a few freezer bags over it if you can. Don't open it." Tony snorted on the other line. "Because I totally want to open a hazardous box sent to you by some mad scientist." I could just see his eyes rolling. "Okay, well, keep it safe. I have to go."

I could hear a door close, and I assumed it was the fridge. "Alright. Leave it on, remember?" Tony nagged. Right, I had left my ear piece on all the time now, ever since the Expo. "See yah darlin'." I smiled. "Okay, bye Tony."

Tony pulled it out of the fridge for me and carried it downstairs when I came home. I pulled a few more strands of the tape that I didn't cut though well enough. "Now," I said, pulling a pair of gloves on. "There will be a box inside of this one, so I will have to open that up as well." Tony gave a nod, pulling the mask over his face. I had on a lab coat with my hair tied back. "Now duct tape my gloves to my coat."

Tugging at the tape roll with his gloves on, he finally got it started. Placing the strip of tape on my glove and my sleeve, he wound it around a few times. "That will do the trick." Taking the large tape roll, I repeated the same process with him.

"Okay, when your working with me," I began, pulling my face mask over my face, "Do as I say, even if it sounds odd, okay? You're not a trained lab assistant, so just obey, alright?" Tony just laughed. "I may not be a trained lab tech, but I know I would be better than that anyways."

I elbowed him in the arm. "Whatever, Dr. Jekyll." I retorted. Tony laughed again. "Oh come on, I'm not going to screw up that much!" Becoming more serious, I pulled the flaps of the box open, revealing the smaller box below it. "Scissors, doctor." Tony said, placing them in my hand.

Pulling the two blades apart, I slid one of them along the top and sides of the package, cutting though the thick tape. "You may not want to put these back in the kitchen." I joked, handing them back to Tony. "Place them in the sanitation machine, sir." Jarvis asked. Tony opened up the lid to the vital machine and placed them inside.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have called FEMA? Shouldn't we have HazMat suits on or something?" I laughed at his sudden concern. "No, he wouldn't have gotten away with mailing any of that stuff!" Maybe the HazMat suits would be nice, but I know the professor wouldn't send me anything too dangerous.

Tony and I both peered inside the box. "I can't see worth a darn with these goggles on." Tony complained. "Don't you dare take them off." I warned. Reaching my hand into the box, I felt something cold against my hand. A small test tube rolled around on the bottom of the box before I could get my gloved hand to grasp it.

Pulling it up out of the box, I held it up to the light. I knew he had sent me some sort of bacteria. "Okay, well this is a little bit less dramatic than I thought it was going to be." Tony commented. "What did you want? Some glowing radioactive green slime?"

"That would have been cool." I rolled my eyes. "This isn't a Si-fi movie." He shrugged. "Fine, but what is it then?" I shrugged. "Hold this." I shoved the tube into Tony's hands. Making sure he had a hold of it, I let go. Reaching back into the small box, I pulled out an envelope addressed to me. Tugging the opening of the envelope, I then pulled the letter from it and began to read.

"Dear Miss Carheart,  
It has been a while since I have had time to make contact with you. For that I am very sorry! I hope you are in good health and that your new job is treating you well. I hoped the box got across the message to the sort of material that I have sent you. As part of my current project, I have traveled down to Mexico. CalTech was one of the universities that partnered with the CDC to help with the recent outbreak of H1N1. Or, what the media is telling you is H1N1."

I paused here and looked up at Tony. His brown eyes were wide and his eye brows raised. Moving his hand, he gestured for me to continue. "I, on the other hand, believe we are dealing with a much more serious disease. Something the world may have not seen before. Sure, the symptoms are identical to the flu, but the casualties are exponentially rising. The flu does not cause that much death that quickly. No, I believe this is a type of flu and chemical weapon hybrid. It makes sense. The flu is easy to contract and spread, whereas the chemical weapon part would account for the large amounts of death caused.

The CDC did not like my suspicion. When I approached them with the idea, I was immediately turned away. A week later, I was to be sent back to California. I am going to go ahead and assume that the government knows something that we all do not. Luckily I did not contract the disease whilst I was there, but I sent you my last sample of it. If I think anyone can figure this out, I would bet everything that it would be you. I did not have the equipment and clearance to run test on it with the CDC or at the labs here at CalTech. But you my lady, have a lot of access to such things. Run the test and once you are done, send the sample and the results back in the same two boxes (postage is inside). I will then approach the government with my findings, taking the blame for extracting the sample from Mexico. The sample will be incinerated. One word of caution, do not tell many about this. I do indeed suspect foul play. Good luck, Andrea.

Your good friend,  
Dr. Donald Galigur

Tony and I stared at each other for a prolonged amount of time. The information that had reached our ears was astounding. I blinked a few times, still trying to comprehend what Dr. Galigur was telling us.

"Well then." I said at last. Tony gently set the vial down on the prepared space. "Your mission, if you choose to accept it." Tony said, injecting some humor into the situation. "We have no choice." I replied. Tony leaned up against the table. "So, a guy sends you a vial and then tells you the government is covering up a chemical warfare attack. Do you believe it?"

I could see where he was coming from. It was awfully strange to hear all of this, especially since we like to believe the government doesn't lie to us. Maybe this really was a cover up, and they were investigating it as we speak. Or maybe they were just as confused as was.

"Yes, I do." I eventually replied. "I trust this man. Plus," I added, picking the vial up. "I guess we really will find out what's going on with this in our possession." Tony was definitely not a rule follower, so I assumed he would agree with me. "Let's get down to it then!"

* * *

(Tony's point of view)

Hours later, the two of us were hungry and tired. The sample had been sent to us in what is called a long term packaging. Which was nice, because then we could hold on to it as long as we needed to. The sample is placed in 150µl of glycol solution. This acts as the preservation unit. Along with the freezing, of course. It could have been flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, but that was irrelevant at this point. Tony sat by me as I separated tiny samples into tiny containers using a micropipette. It was tedious work, putting an exact amount of the dangerous substance into a container then finding the correct machine and then the correct settings and then waiting for the results. Which, would take forever.

"This is going to be our favorite machine." Andrea said to me, pointing to the only one hooked up directly to a computer. It looked just like any other machine to me. "Okay…" I replied, unsure of what was so great by it. She exhaled loudly, clearly annoyed at me. "This is a Gas chromatography–mass spectrometer." Andrea replied with a dramatic voice.

"This little baby takes in any substance and incinerates it. Then, the gas that is created from it is analyzed by the spectrometer. Different substances will show up on the screen, and the one with the highest peak is its identity. Of course, that's just what the gas chromatography part. The mass spectrometer analyzes molecules and ions as well as the light produced by each."

Placing her hand on the box to the right, she opened it up to reveal a large steel contraption. "This is the oven. I inject the substance we are testing into the machine and it will burn inside of here. This," Reaching her hand to the box on the left, she opened it up to show me the inside. There was a large black container and a few wires, along with a fan. "This is where the reading of it takes place. Then the results show up on the computer."

Closing both of the doors, she then picked up the vial of well, whatever was really in it. "It's impossible to obtain accurate results with just the gas chromatography part of the machine. The mass spectrometer unit though, requires a pure sample, which we do not have since it has been mixed with glycol. But then, when we get the results we can easily exclude it."

Her eyes were alight as she explained to me how her little machine worked. I placed a hand over my mouth to hide my growing smile. She always talked with her hands, sometimes making ridiculous gestures without even realizing it. She wound even interrupt herself sometimes, making a correction or elaborating on whatever she was talking about. Occasionally her face would freeze up as she would forget what she was saying, but quickly remember. It was like her mind ran faster than her mouth did. It was quirky and dramatic, but cute. For some reason, I did indeed find it cute.

"Here is the injection site," She explained, pointing at the machine. Using the small container, she sucked the fluids up into a syringe. After flicking it a few times, she injected it into the machine. "So now we can run the test!" Her hand moved to the elaborate key pad before and started to press some buttons. "Wait, I don't have to program it! Jarvis!" She said excitedly. "Please run the GC-MS to break down and detect our unknown substance. Go ahead and throw out the glycol in the results, and keep in mind we may be looking for major compounds consistent with the flu." She commanded. "Right away, m'am." Jarvis replied.

Turning around, she leaned against the table, releasing a large sigh. We've been filling machines and running test for what seemed like forever, and the exhaustion was beginning to show on her face. "What?" She asked me. "What?" I questioned back. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I didn't realize the look I had on my face. It was a cross between admiration, desire, and amusement. "Like what?" I smirked. In an unsuccessful attempt to name my look, she tossed her hands up in the air. "That-that…that look!" Her eyes turned away from my face as I saw her smile.

"That look I give women who are extremely smart and are wonderful at what they do? The ones who somehow put up with me all the time? Not to mention the cooking!" Her eyes became shifty." And how beautiful you are."

Andrea turned her head away from me. She bit her bottom lip and tried not to show any emotions. "Are you flattered?" I asked, knowing that she was. "Because I can remember you saying that flattery didn't work on you." Still, she didn't look at me. "You say it doesn't, but your cheeks tell me it does." Her face was dusted in rouge from my comments.

"There just sweet nothings, Tony. You do it all the time." She replied. "But they're not nothings! They're something's!" I exclaimed, walking towards her. "I mean every word." Finally she faced me, a smile upon her lips. Slowly she shook her head, letting me win this one. "See, I knew it worked." I told her triumphantly. Reaching for her hands, I intertwined my fingers with hers.

Her happy expression changed to one of fear. Instantly I knew she was thinking of the sample, the flu, the many people dying. "Tony," She began. "What if…" I placed a finger on her lips to stop her from voicing her terrible thoughts. "Hey." I interrupted. I gave her that smile that I knew made her melt inside. "I love you."

Her smile became bigger and she let out a short laugh. "You know, most normal people don't have that many romantic moments in their garage." I laughed too, but because it was totally true. "If you haven't realized yet, Andrea, we aren't exactly normal people." She chuckled a little more. "You're a superhero, and I'm a super nerd."

I gave her hands a squeeze before replying. "You're also super beautiful. And I of course, am super good looking." Andrea rolled her eyes as I said that. "Guess that makes us a super sexy couple." I got another laugh out of her. "You know it!" She said with a wink.

"Now come on Tony, I am starving. We worked straight though dinner." Andrea stated, tugging me towards the stairs. "We need some pizza." Pizza did sound good. "_We_ need a shower." I replied, stressing the we.

She stopped at the doorway and turned to face me. "Pizza." She contradicted, her face a blank slate. Her lips turned upwards and her eyes softened. "Then, _we_ shower." I smiled back at her. "Eat quick then." I told her. Andrea's hands wrapped back around mine and I let her pull me up the stairs.


	11. Chapter 11

"As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot." – John Lennon

The machines in Tony's garage were still running the test two days later. We had not received results from any of them yet, and we were both extremely anxious to get the results back from the Gas- chromatography mass spectrometer. It was especially worrying me to hold onto that sample too. I didn't even want to know what would happen if the government found out we had a sample of the deadly outbreak in our freezer.

"Is that alright, Andrea?" Judy repeated. "Huh?" I said, turning my desk chair towards her. "Are you alright?" She asked, shooting me a concerned look. "Sorry, just a lot on my mind." Which, was true. Judy smiled. "I could imagine. But you really need to be off towards the lab to pick up the paperwork from team 6, alright?" I gave a nod and got up out of my office chair. "Then you need to come back here and change for lunch with the ACC." Darn! The lunch! I completely forgot!

"Don't worry, I already have your outfit here, along with your shoes. The reps will be here in twenty minutes." My hand grasped the doorknob and yanked it open. "Judy, you're a lifesaver!" She laughed and I shut the door behind me.

I tried to keep my pace at a walking one as I headed to the labs. Getting all suited up for some paperwork would just be a waste of gloves and everything, so I called them up to the front of the lab so I could meet with them.

"And that's basically it!" The head of the team ended. They explained how this trial was different than the others and that the chemical may have other capabilities that we should study. "Great work!" I flipped though the stack of papers they had given me. "I'm impressed that you guys thought to use the biochemical for a different purpose and then went ahead and tested it. That saves everyone here so we don't have to create a new team and all of those hoops. Go ahead and run trials on this then, like this one here in my hand. Can't wait to see what you come up with!"

After saying good-bye I rushed back to my office. People looked at me funny as I shuffled down the hallway, but I was in a hurry. I really did have to look nice for lunch. A lunch I completely forgot about. I opened the door to my office and saw Judy with my clothes. "Thanks!" Grabbing them, I headed into the bathroom in the back of my office.

I traded my comfy pants and blouse in for a nice pencil skirt and a blazer with a white shirt underneath. Slipping my feet out of the flats I had on, I pulled on some turquoise heels. The necklace pulled it all together.

I scampered out of the bathroom and tucked my other outfit in one of my desk drawers. Cramming the drawer closed, I sat back in my office chair. Pulling the paperwork I just received out, I began to review it. The door to my office opened and I assumed it was Judy.

"Hey, would you mind refilling team 6's project. They are no longer working with a vesicant chemical, but a choking/pulmonary one. Theirs became more harsh to the replicated repertory test and they would like to change classification in order to run more test."

"Oh okay. Are you sure you don't want to keep it vesicant? That sounds more dangerous than choking/pulmonary." My head jolted up and I blinked a few times. "Tony?" He stood before me, picking my nameplate off my desk. His hair was gelled and he was in a classic black suit with a black skinny tie.  
"Hey." He said simply, smirking at me. "What are you doing here?" I asked, still surprised to see him standing in front of my desk. I realized Judy was in the corner, analyzing her clipboard intently. "Uh, I believe we have a very important meeting with the American Chemical Company today."

I didn't know that he would show up for that though. Tony never shows up for anything. At all. I mean, he's missed awards, business meetings, board meetings, you name it (besides a party), and he's probably missed it recently.

"I didn't know you would be here." I said in my surprised voice. "So, uh," Tony replied, raising his hand to his chin. "Are you glad to see me or not? Because I'm getting a few mixed readings here."

I let out a laugh. "Of course I'm glad to see you!" Finally Tony cracked a smile. "Of course! Stupid question!" Shaking my head at his arrogance, I stood up out of my chair. "Well, are the reps outside the office?" I asked. Tony shrugged. "No clue."

Rolling my eyes I passed him and opened up the door. Two men in suits were coming down the hallway. "From the American Chemical Company?" I questioned as they neared. "Yes, m'am." One replied. I took a step out into the hallway. "Hello! I'm Andrea Carheart, head of the Chemical Research and Development department here at Stark Industies."

The two men approached and shook my hand. "Wonderful to meet you, Miss Carheart." I flashed a smile at the two of them as I shook the other man's hand. "And it is great to finally meet you too. We do so much business that I honestly don't know what I would do without you!" They both were flattered and let out a laugh.

"And I'm Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries." Tony appeared out of nowhere from behind me. The two men stared at him with wide eyes. I pretended to wipe my nose in order to hide my growing smile. I would compare it to a fangirl meeting their favorite actor. "Mr. Stark …" One of them said, his voice fading off into nothing. The other was still very shocked. "I'm Tom Freeman, sir." He said, shaking Tony's hand. He looked like he just touched a ghost. "Layton Hilfigure." The other one said, hesitant to even touch Tony.

"W-we didn't expect you to appear at our meeting, Mr. Stark." Layton said, recovering from his star struck moment. "We just expected to meet with the lady." I was called. My arms crossed my chest and I popped my hip out to the side. My actions went unnoticed.

"Well, then I guess it's a pleasant surprise for you two then! I don't know why I would want to miss a meeting with my favorite company." My eyes rolled back into my head as Layton and Tom almost fainted. "Your favorite company?" One asked. "One of the favorites that I work with!" Tony assured.

There was all sorts of thanks coming from the two. "Come on, , we want to treat you to lunch!" Tom said, motioning to the exit. Layton and Tom excitedly walked in front of us. I clearly was left in the dust. Tony turned his head towards me with the biggest smirk ever."What company is this again?" He whispered into my ear. I shook my head. "Your favorite." I replied.

Tony frowned at my smart comment. "Aw, what's wrong? Is Andrea not getting any attention?" Making sure Tom and Layton were not looking, I swung my hand back and smacked Tony's arm. "Uh, ow!" He complained. My pace quickened to meet up with the two reps.

"This is our car, if you would like to ride in it with us." Tom stated, looking at Tony eagerly. "Thanks, but Miss Carheart and I will be taking my car." The two of them instantly looked at me. "Oh, yes, of course. Meet you at Fino's Italian Restaurant on 25th." Layton replied. Tony nodded, smiled, and waved as they got into their car.

"Maybe I should come to these sorts of things more often." Tony told me as we walked towards his Audi. "Oh pa-leeze! Those two guys were fangirling over you probably because your Iron Man. I mean, come on, they work for a chemical company. They're probably nerds." This put a little damper on Tony's ego. "Not only nerds love me, okay." He stressed as the two of us got in the car.

"Really? Then who loves you, Tony?" I asked as he put the keys in. Turning his gaze back to me, he smirked, lifting both of his hands in the air. "Everybody loves me, honey." I swatted him again as he pulled out of the parking lot. "You arrogant little-"

Tony interrupted my sentence. "If I think what you're going to say after that is right, you may not want to say little." I wanted to smack my head against the dash. "Come on," Tony said, looking over at me as we stopped at a light. "You've seen it. You know."

Oh brother. Some days, I don't know why we are still together. "You really are full of it, aren't you?" I heard him laugh. He sat up taller in his seat. Using the rear view mirror, he fixed the front of his hair. "You betcha!"

My head hit the back of the headrest and I decided I couldn't take him anymore. "Why are you really here? You miss stuff like this all the time." Tony shrugged, and kept his eyes on the road. "Oh, I don't know. Just thought it would be nice to see you at work." Then it all clicked in my mind.

"You're here," I began. "Because I was leaving work to go to lunch today. That means, I wouldn't have my ear piece in. I would be with total strangers at a restaurant. With other people, in public." My head turned towards him, waiting for his reply.

Tony remained silent for a minute. "Well, not exactly-" I interrupted him. "Tony." He took a deep breath. "Yeah, okay. Busted. But you never know." It was my turn to sigh. "Tony, I'm a big girl. I don't need you to babysit me like this! I know what happened is tough, and we both should be more cautious, but really!"

I am independent. I really am. It drove my father, my teachers, and my ex-boyfriends crazy. But it's just part of me I can't help. I don't want to be that needy person, you know? I want people to rely on me, but I don't want to rely on anyone but myself.

Tony's demeanor became more serious. "Look, I lost my parents due to a car accident set up by a rival company." The headline of that tragic day's paper popped up in my head. I had forgotten that. Even though the ACC and Stark Industries were not really competitors, I could see where he was coming from.  
"The America Chemical Company isn't going to kill me, Tony." He bit his lip and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm fine." I stressed. Tony shook his head though, and closed his eyes for a second longer than he should have. "I can't afford to lose you." He said at last.

I blinked a few times before his words sunk in. "I'm sure you could afford it. You have enough money to be able to." I don't know why I said it, because it was awful harsh. I wanted to take the words out of the air as soon as I said them. Sometimes we all speak before we really think about it.

Tony squeezed his shoulders up and swallowed loudly. He looked extremely uncomfortable. His eyes wandered down to his chest, a hand over his reactor. "The man who has everything… and nothing." He muttered. "What?" I asked, not sure what he just said. "Oh, just something I was told once." His smile was gone, the arrogant illusion faded away.

"Hey," I said, grabbing his arm. His head turned to face me, his eyes full of sadness. I gave him the biggest smile I could muster. "I love you."  
Tony finally cracked and a smile appeared on his face. "I love you more." He replied, pulling up to the restaurant. "And it looks like we are here." It wasn't super busy as I thought it might be. The two reps stood outside the door, waiting for the two of us to arrive. "Better not keep the men waiting!" Tony said, jumping out of the car. "Here we go." I muttered and followed him out.

The two men waved as we approached. They bombarded Tony with greetings as I was pushed aside. That's alright though, I didn't mind not being the center of attention. To be honest, I didn't really like a lot of attention anyways. The waiter led us though the maze of tables to one sort of secluded from the rest of the guest. Tony pulled my chair out for me and I sat down. The look of admiration on the two men's faces only increased.

Menus were placed before us and Tony and the reps chatted. "We really admire you work, Mr. Stark. With weapons and with the Iron Man suits." Tom said the last phrase of his sentence quieter, like it was sacred. "Extremely impressive." Layton added. Tony just smiled bigger, his ego swelling with every compliment. "Thank you, thank you!"

I was tempted to crawl under the table or smack Tony out of it with my menu, but either of those options would be unacceptable. The waitress came around and we ordered drinks. Tom and Layton talked more about their company and how some of the chemical packaging and processing techniques worked. I was interested, but Tony was not. He was good at pretending though.

Tony's hand that was holding mine released it and ended up on my leg. I scooted my chair a bit closer to his. A small smile appeared on his face as he pretended to be interested in their conversation. A loud beep sounded and Tom and Layton stopped. "I'm so sorry! I'm afraid that's me." Tom said. Tony smiled. "Business is business." Tom nodded as he stood up. "We will be right back!" The two of them left Tony and I alone.

"I'm sure you will." I muttered as they scampered off and outside. Tony let out a laugh. "Now it's just the two of us." His hand squeezed my leg. "I was thinking." Oh no. Tony thinking isn't always a good thing. But it can be. "Oh?" I replied, leaning my head in towards his.

"That when all of this is over." He took a pause and lowered his voice. "I want to go home and take all of your clothes off." I nodded, pretending that he said something totally normal. "And then I want to carry up upstairs and take a nice…hot….bath." Tony paused between words. My head leaned in closer to his ear. "Why don't you march yourself upstairs, pull a mirror up to the side of the tub, and admire your arrogant little self."

Tony pulled his head away from me. He knew I was still a little upset about him being so difficult. He also wasn't use to rejection. I knew that it only made him try harder. Before he could think of a witty reply, the two men were back and asking Tony questions again. Our food showed up, but Tom and Layton seemed to take no notice of it.

"I am currently working in the chemical department though." I interjected. "You know, on the latest biochemical weapons in the country." The two men looked at me momentarily. "Oh, why yes, that is very good." Layton said. "Good idea for Stark Industries to become involved in chemical weaponry." Tom added, looking back at Tony.

"It was my idea to make her the head of the department." Tony said, taking a sip of the water that was already on the table for us. "What an ingenious idea." Layton said quickly. "But the weapons are still Stark Industries strong suit." Tom nodded in agreement.

"She does have a lot of good work out." Tony added, taking a bite of his food. "Of course," Tom said, "But the woman's work is still inferior to yours, Mr. Stark."

I almost choked. Using my napkin, I blotted the corners of my mouth. My eyes burned though Tom's head. Was it because I was a woman that my work is inferior, or because I was being compared to Tony the Almighty here? That was not made clear, and so I continued my death glare.

Tony though, reacted cool. He let out a laugh and gave a nod of agreement. A smile was upon his face. "Why yes, of course!" My eyes shifted over to him. "Did I mention that this is my girlfriend?" Tony added oh so casually.

Tom and Layton looked up at me as I gave them an artificial smile. Their eyes became wide and they seemed to shrink back in their chairs. They, the Tony-worshipers, just made fun of the incredible Tony Stark's (who loves women) girlfriend (the first real one since Pepper, too), in front of Tony Stark himself. They were mortified. Tom's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Tony turned his head towards me and raised his eyebrows. Slowly his lips curled into another smile. "A bath you say?" I mouthed behind my napkin. Quickly he gave a nod and his smile grew.

"So," Tony said to Tom, "Let's talk business." Whilst Tom and Tony discussed business, Layton and I talked chemicals. I underestimated this guys smarts, probably because he was in awe of Tony. He knew his stuff, and I was glad to talk chemistry with someone.

"Dessert?" Our waitress asked us as she came back around. I shook my head no and the others did too. The Italian dishes filled all of us up and dessert didn't sound good right now. "Here's the bill when you're ready." Layton snatched it up off the table and stuck his credit card in it. There was a small sticker on the front, and I assumed it was a credit card for his work.

"Thank you for such a wonderful evening!" I told them as we all walked towards the exit. Tom and Layton were still looking at Tony though. "You're welcome." Tom replied quickly. "Mr. Stark," He continued. "It was a pleasure to meet such a fantastic man like you." Tony pretended to be humble. "Oh well, it's not every day I get to work with people like you." I pursed my lips as they bought his charade. "Well, thanks boys. There's just one more thing I'd like to say before we go."

The two men looked up at Tony with a child's curiosity in their eyes. "Stark Industries," He said, looking at Tom and then at Layton. "Appreciates you." I rolled my eyes as the two men smiled and held onto Tony's comment. With a wink, he was out the door, me following close behind.

"Stark Industries appreciates you? Nice, Tony. You didn't even know what company they worked for!" I was half amused, half frustrated with him. Their star struck behavior was rather entertaining. I guess I just don't really see Tony as a widely know celebrity and more as a normal person. Well, sort of normal person. More normal than others see him.

"Well, you do, don't you?" He asked me. I nodded and got in the car. We really did need that company on our side too, and if Tony hadn't sold it well, it could have ended differently. That was one advantage, I suppose.

"Yeah yeah." I peered out the window before turning my head back to face him. "Didn't you have some plans or something?" I whispered. Tony put on a fake frown. "Yeah, you wanted me to go upstairs and bathe all by myself." He pouted. The corners of his mouth twitched, unable to fake a frown anymore. Tony smiled and looked forward.

"Or you know," He said, eyes back on me. "We could keep each other company." I smile in return. "Drive, Tony." I answered, telling him what he needed to know. His smile grew and he took us home.


	12. Chapter 12

"She's the sort of woman who lives for others - you can tell the others by their hunted expression."- C.S. Lewis

Once the car was safely back in the garage downstairs, the two of us walked up and into the living room. "That really was a great lunch. It was a lot longer than lunch though." The sun had just set behind the waves of the ocean as we neared the house. I had Tony run us by the office so I could check things out one last time before I came home.

"I'm just going to go get my pajamas on and-" Looking around, I saw no Tony in sight. "Tony?" I asked. My eyes searched the living room and he was nowhere to be found. "Tony?" I asked a little louder. "I do believe Mr. Stark is by the pool, m'am."

I set my purse down on the table. "The pool? What the heck is he doing by the pool?" Rolling my eyes, I took off though the side of the living room, making my way to the nearest door that led outside. It was becoming rather dark and I couldn't see if Tony was out there or not. My heels clicked against the concrete before I reached the hot tub, which was right before the pool. "Tony, where are-"

Suddenly the darkness faded away thanks to the glow of candlelight. A few floated in the pool, some were placed on the floor, others on a small table. As the light reached my eyes I noticed that there was a bed outside. Yes, a bed. On every corner of it stood a large post that extended out into the air, like a four poster bed. A drape like cloth hung on the beams above it, creating a sheer curtain between the inside of the bed and the rest of the world. Then there was Tony who was standing near it, a smile on his face.

The beginning to Marvin Gaye's Get it On played aloud and my two hands clapped over my mouth. "Jarvis!" Tony yelled, "I said no music!" The song suddenly stopped. "Sorry, sir," He replied. "I just thought it would be…fitting." He concluded. I let out a laugh and looked around again and again. "Tony, this is all so…" Tony was already smiling, knowing that he caught me by surprise. "Great? Fabulous? Wonderful?" Tony asked, trying to complete my sentence. "Romantic." I concluded.

He gave a nod and walked towards me. "I was hoping that's what you would say." His hands slipped off my blazer. "How the heck did you get a bed down here?" I asked. Tony laughed, taking off my necklace and setting it aside. "I have a lot of time on my hands, we'll leave it at that."

Slowly Tony took off the rest of my clothes. He did it slowly on purpose too. "Why don't you go ahead and get in?" He asked, pointing to the hot tub. My hand patted his cheek a few times before I turned away and walked in. The hot tub was not the traditional one. It didn't have steps that you walk down and then end up in a circle. It was like you were walking into the water at the beach, but the sand was tile and the water wasn't salty here. The further I walked the deeper I went until I reached the ledges that were the seating. I took a seat and my attention was back at Tony now.

First he tossed his jacket aside and fiddled with his tie until it came off. His eyes focused on mine as he began to unbutton his shirt. He did it slowly too. Button by button, but finally he pulled it off, revealing his strong arms and chest. The arc reactors vibrant blue light was now visible to me. My eyes didn't wander away from him as he undid his belt, pulling it from the belt loops. He unbuttoned his pants, slightly smirking at me. The zipper glided down and they dropped off of his hips and to his ankles. The only thing left on him was his underwear.

Slipping his thumb under the elastic band, he moved them down a little. Tony pulled on the right side a little, and then the left. I shook my head as I watched him tease me. He continued this a few more times, trying to drag it out. Finally he pulled them all the way down.

Grabbing them off the floor, he tossed them aside with the rest of his clothes. On the table next to the bed Tony picked up two drinks. He made his entry into the hot tub and waded deeper and deeper in. Soon he was towering over me. My eyes traveled up to his face and I chewed on my bottom lip. Lowering a hand with a glass, he offered it to me. I took it from his hand, but looked back up at him with a frown. "It's apple juice."

I lost my composure at that point and laughed out loud, leaning up against the poolside. "I thought it was scotch!" Tony let out a few laughs too. "Why would I give you that? You don't drink! Well, there goes the moment." I smiled up at him. "It was just how you said it that made it even better! It was like a whisper!" He scrunched up his face and tried not to laugh. "I was trying!" Tony defended.

With my free hand, I glided it up his leg and stopped once I reached his hip. Tony shut his eyes and breathed out slowly as I did too. I wondered to myself if I gave him the chills, or maybe the butterflies? Then I realized that Tony had never expressed that before. I never thought that I would make Tony feel the way that I feel around him. It was a strange thought, but powerful.

His eyes opened up and I removed my hand from his hip. With my index finger, I beckoned him to move closer to me. Almost hesitantly, Tony lowered himself down into the water so we were both eye level with each other. Leaning my head in, I planted a kiss on his lips. Gently I pulled away, leaving Tony wanting more.

Taking the glass from my hand, he set his and mine up on the concrete. Both of his hands wrapped around my shoulders and pushed me up against the wall of the hot tub. My eyes widened at his sudden change in emotions. But it was a good thing. I was worried there for a second. Tony never usually shows emotions like that.

Raising one knee, he placed it on the ledge I was sitting on. He slid it over so it touched my leg. Then Tony did the same with his other so his body was directly over mine. I still could only stare at him, eyes wide with excitement, mouth slightly ajar. I couldn't even blink.

"I just made you melt inside, didn't I?" Tony whispered. "Uh-huh." I replied, making more of a noise than an annunciated word. His smile grew and his knees scooted closer towards me. My heart was beating fast and I on accidently exhaled loudly. He didn't care because he totally had me where he wanted me.  
My eyes broke off from his and I let them wandered downwards, making it obvious as I could. Tony slipped a hand off my shoulders and under my chin. He lifted my face upwards, my eyes reconnecting with his. But still, Tony didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

Taking his other hand off of my shoulder, he slid it around the small of my back. Gently he pulled me off the ledge and stood up in the hot water. My feet touched the ground as Tony leisurely pulled me towards his chest. I was pressed up against him now, but my eyes couldn't leave his this time.

Gradually he waded into the more shallow part with me and the water kept getting lower and lower, until it was only a few inches on the tile. Suddenly Tony spun us around, causing me to cling to him even more. I wanted to ask why, but it was like I couldn't speak. "Down." He commanded, giving me a few light pushed on my shoulders. Slowly I lowered myself to the ground till I was sitting with my legs stretched out in front of me. Tony got back down on his knees again, straddling my legs.

"All the way." Tony whispered, with a smile. Placing his hand right above my chest, he applied force, pushing me downwards until my back met the tile below. I allowed my head to hit the tile and Tony began to reposition himself. He sat up a bit off his knees and leaned forwards, his hands resting on the tile right above my shoulders.

His face appeared right above mine and I stared up at him though my eyelashes. Emotions and adrenaline surged though my body and a chill ran down my spine, causing my body to wiggle underneath his.

Tony's lips formed back into a smile. "Now, Andrea," He spoke, raising his eyebrows slightly. "We can't have you squirming around." Sitting back up, he removed his hands above my shoulders and placed them on my sides. Slowly he ran his hands down my body until they rested on where my legs met my breathing was audible by now and I was moving around more than before. My hip pressed up but Tony's strong hands kept me flat on the ground. "Tony." I whispered. He just sat there above me, smirking.

"Tony." I spoke out, louder than my whisper was. Still, Tony did not move or make a sound, that smile on his face only growing bigger and a bit smug too. "Did you say something?" He taunted, tilting his head.

"Tony!" I yelled at him. "Ah," Tony said. "There we go." I lifted my back off the ground. Sitting up, my face met his. "Lay back down." He told me. I didn't though, and I tried to lean forward, my arms outstretched. I really wanted him. Very badly.

"Lay down and I'll stop teasing you, okay?" He whispered. I nodded and obeyed. My head was resting back on the ground before he made a move. Tony's hands moved onto the sides of my hips and he stopped pressing down on me. I let out a loud moan as he pushed my body hard into the floor.

* * *

The hot water rose and fell against my legs as I looked up into the sky. Next to me I could hear her breathe out slowly. "That was nice." I whispered, breaking the silence. My head turned on its side so I could see her face. As she let out a laugh, the skin around her eyes crinkled. Her nose scrunched up and her eyes closed for a second. "Yes Tony, it was."

Her head moved to my shoulder and I slid my arm around her. "It's such a clear sky tonight." She whispered, looking up. The stars were especially bright. "There's Lyra." I said, pointing up at the constellation in the sky. "And if we look to the left, we see Pegasus. You know, Hercules's flying horse?" My finger moved in the air, pointing it out to her. "The hunk is over on the other side though." On the other side of the sky there was Hercules. "But below the horse are Aquarius and Pieces, the water carrier and the fish."

Andrea's head shifted on my shoulder. "Who's the nerd now?" She teased. I let out a short laugh. "Yeah okay, whatever." Her hand rested on my chest as she scooted closer. "It is beautiful though." I nodded in agreement. "For sure. It's like diamonds and black velvet." I felt her body move and I turned my attention back to her. I realized Andrea was laughing, a hand over her mouth. I lifted my head up off the ground, cocking an eyebrow. A quizzical look overcame my face as she tried to calm down.

"You're a bit of a Romantic, aren't you Tony?" I laid my head back down on the ground and bit my tongue. Andrea let out another laugh. "It's alright, Iron Man." She said, raising a hand. With her palm facing up, she curled her index and middle finger up. Reaching across my chest, she gave a few raps on my reactor. "You can be a little soft."

My eyes looked up at her face. She was smiling, but I knew that she meant it. People usually don't like it when you're "soft" per se. They always want you to be strong and tough, and to look good and have a sense of humor. They want you to be glamorous and perfect but never soft. Softness is weakness. I realized though, that it's not really. It just means you're human.

Her head never settled back on my shoulder and so I sat up again. Andrea looked back up before looking at me again. "What was it like?" She whispered at last. I propped myself up on my elbows like she was. "What was what like?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. Her head turned forwards and she didn't reply for a while. It was like she wasn't sure if she should ask. "Iraq."

_American soldier bodies littered the ground._ M_y feet rushed beneath me, sliding in the sandy ground. Spotting a rock, I leapt behind it. _I blinked a few times, realizing what a random question this was. _Reaching into my pocket I found my phone. Rapidly I pressed buttons, desperate to send my message out._  
My hand covered up my face. I didn't want her to see.

_Gunfire persisted in the background and a loud whizzing noise grew louder and louder. _  
I breathed in and out, sliding my hand down my cheek.

_The sand near me flew up into the air. In an instant I saw a bomb in the sand. Stark Industries. I saw my name on it. I couldn't help feel that this really was the end for me. Dropping my phone, I raced forwards, a feeble attempt to get away. The sky lit up and a flash of light blinded me. Heat from the explosion covered my body as I flew though the air. My back hit the sand and I slid. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Taking my next breath in and out, I realized that writing really was an omen. Tilting my head up, I then proceeded to rip open my button down. Blood was leaking out of the bullet proof vest I was wearing. My head hit the ground again. The fighting continued around me, oblivious to what had occurred. I really was going to die here.  
_  
_The dim light from a burlap bag over my head._  
_A strange blurred image of a man in glasses above me._  
_Antagonizing pain shot though my body as I screamed aloud._  
_My pounding head as I pulled a tube out from my nose._  
_Pulling away the cotton bandage, revealing a black mass in my chest._  
_The two red and black cables hooking me to a battery._  
_Hard work in captivity building our way out._  
_The threat of death every day._  
_Yinsen's dead body._  
_"The man who has everything… and nothing."_

The whole experience rushed before my eyes, evoking some of the darkest memories I have. I had never felt so hopeless, so much pain before. "I watched people die." I spoke, my eyes closed. "Americans died from the exact weapons I was making to protect them." Finally I opened them. My head turned towards her, but I couldn't make eye contact. "I was tortured." I whispered. "I woke up hooked up to a car battery by Yinsen, another captive. He did it. He was the one that performed the surgery that saved me. But because of me he died." I sighed.

Andrea opened her mouth, but she never said what she was going to. "It should have been me." Her hand touched the side of my face gently, but I turned it away from her. "I should have died. But I didn't, and that's why I do what I do." I thought I heard her say my name, but I wasn't sure.

"Once…once I think I have something, it slips right though my fingers." My hands clenched up in front of me, but not before I could see the scars on them. "It's like trying to hold onto sand. First my parents. Then I watched people die in front of me. Right in front of me. Life as I knew it. Obadiah. My company. My health. Pepper." I whispered her name at the end. "All of it, just gone." Still my eyes avoided hers. "Then I go and hurt you. How long will you be here for?"

My fingers were digging into my palms from clenching my hands. "Yinsen was the one who told me I was the man who had everything and nothing." I remembered her question from earlier on in the car. I had muttered this phrase. Actually, I think about it a lot. "I really do have nothing. And if I have something, it finds a way of leaving me."

Pushing my hands against the floor, I heaved myself off of the ground. In the corners of my eyes I saw tears form and I dared not blink. I released my hands from fist and placed them on top of my head. Tugging at my hair with them, I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth together. I couldn't decide if I was angry or sad. It was probably both.

I heard water splashing behind me and I assumed Andrea had gotten up. I didn't turn around to face her though. Walking around, she faced me. Her arms wrapped around me and my hands lowered from my head. Placing them on her back I pressed her close to me. Andrea's head settled on my shoulder, but still she did not say anything. But still, that's what's great about her. She doesn't always have to.

"Maybe if you had someone to help you pick up the sand, things won't leave you." Andrea whispered at last into my ear. "I won't leave you." She said it somehow that made me want to believe that she wouldn't. I couldn't let myself believe it though, not yet.

She pulled her head back so she could see my face. "Are you alright, Tony?" She asked. My mouth opened, and I almost instinctively said yes, or something else that was witty. But this time I didn't. Shaking my head, I replied. "No. I am not alright."It was hard for me to admit, but I did.

"None of us are, really." Andrea thought aloud. "I'm sorry I asked about it. I just…wanted to know." I smiled at this. She was always very curious. Not in a nosy way though, more of in a caring way. She did care a lot about me, and she made sure I knew it too. "No, don't be sorry." I replied, finally smiling at her. "If it wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't be Iron Man, and Iron Man has helped a lot of people." Andrea gave a nod in agreement. "The Invincible Iron Man."

Taking her by surprise, I picked her up and began to walk. "Tony! Put me down, I can walk!" I laughed but didn't set her down like she requested. Gently I tossed her onto the bed and I heard her laugh. "I don't really like to be carried, you know." Andrea said as I climbed into bed too. "Really? Women usually like that." I shrugged. "I am not a usual woman." She retorted. "I totally agree with that one."It was true though. She definitely was different than other women.

She pressed her warm body up against me and snuggled her head into my chest. "You know when you jokingly ask me why I am still with you?" I gave a nod. I asked her that when I was super annoying or arrogant. "That, that just happened back there. That's why."

My hand stroked her hair and a breeze ruffled the blankets. "It's because I'm sad?" I asked. I didn't quite get what she meant. "No, it's because you saw something terrible in the world and decided to do something about it. That's why I love you."

My mouth turned upwards in a smile. "The Invincible Iron Man." Andrea said quietly. Her eyes stopped opening and closing and she fell fast asleep. I for one, could not. I looked up at the stars as memories from my past appeared in my mind.


	13. Chapter 13

"Better to be strong than pretty and useless."- Lilith Saintcrow

A loud noise work me up and my eyes opened to the sun. Slowly I sat up in bed, wondering why the heck I was outside. The night before came back into my mind, and I remembered now. Andrea was no longer at my side, but heading off to work. Some days I wish she wouldn't.

"Jarvis," I said sleepily, walking on inside. "Coffee." The AI had control of the kitchen and more parts of the house. I was glad I made that update. "Right away, sir." I walked up the stairs leading to my room. The lights flipped on when I entered. Yanking open the closet doors, I pulled out a t-shirt. Tossing it over my head, I then opened up my dresser. Pulling out a pair of boxers and socks, I got dressed.

Lazily I walked back downstairs and into the kitchen. I opened up the cabinet near the microwave and pulled out a coffee mug. Part of the backsplash parted and the coffee machine appeared onto the counter. Sliding it under the coffee machine, it poured the caffeinated liquid into my cup. "Thanks. So, lay it on me Jarvis. What's up for today?"

"You have a conference call at 2 pm. That is all that is entered into the schedule." Great, only one call and I was free for the rest of the day. "Thanks." With a small jump I managed to sit on the island in the kitchen. Leisurely I sipped my coffee and looked out the window.

My mind wandered back to last night, even though I tried to avoid it. Even after all this time, my experience in Iraq was still hard and emotional for me. I usually didn't get too hung up on things like that. The past is the past, and that's all it is. But this…this was different. I wish it wasn't. Not that I wanted to forget, but I would definitely like to tone down the emotional reaction I got from it.

Then I thought about something else I said. _How long will you be here? _I felt bad now for saying that to her. It was a question that tugged at my mind though. It almost seems too good to be true, you know? Not saying she's faking anything, but something is bound to happen, and that is when she will leave. There's only one problem with that though.

I'm in love.

Yeah, yeah, okay, I admit it. Finally. But not to her yet. I can't help it though! Her wit and sarcasm was up to par with mine. Andrea was absolutely beautiful without looking fake or anorexic. Or like a duck. I don't even get why women do that. What's so desirable about looking like a duck? Not cool. But on topic again, she's lovely. Then there's that whole side to her that's understanding and caring. Even though she hasn't gone though the things I have, she always tries to relate and make me feel better. Then, there's the totally other side to her, the geeky part. She's a total genius and is extremely passionate about what she does. Her intellect and insight is phenomenal. Some people are considered "walking dictionaries" with their large vocabulary. Andrea though, is the whole freaking set of encyclopedias.

"And the results are back, sir." My mug almost slipped from my hands. I did manage a nice little coffee stain on my shirt though. "On which one?! Do we know what it is?" My feet pounded across the floor and rapidly down the stairs. "Yes, sir. Proceed downstairs and I will show you."

My fingers flew across the key pad and I entered into my garage. "Okay, Jarvis." I said impatiently, waiting for the hologram with the answered to appear in front of me. Blue pages few up into the air, a few stacking on top of each other. A 3D model of the structure appeared along side of the papers. Videos of the news showed up on the other side, along with an article from the CDC.

"The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer has broken the compound and incinerated it." A large graph with different colored spikes appeared before me. "What does it mean?" I asked Jarvis. I was an engineer, not a chemist. "Well, sir, I am not quite sure." I snorted. "Jarvis, you are suppose to know everything. The internet is at your fingertips. Please tell me you didn't blow another one of your fuses. Or fry one of the circuit boards. Those are a pain to change out."

"No, sir. I even ran a full diagnostic scan and picked up nothing. I have searched every article on the internet, including SHIELD's data base, and found nothing on this compound." Wow, that was something new. Usually things like this were leaked onto the internet. "How did you get into SHIELD?" I asked. "You still are granted access sir, even after what happened last time you-" I cut Jarvis off. "Okay, I get it. No trace. So what do you know about it?"

The graph disappeared and the holographic articles appeared. "The compound we have here is based off of influenza, so like Miss Carheart suggested, it does have an influenza base. What is interesting though," Jarvis stated. "Is that this is a very fatal strand. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, commonly known as the bird-flu, is acting as the main substance in this compound. The World Health Organization,WHO, says that in 60% of the cases reported are fatal. It commonly causes about half of the victims to die. Which is occurring right now in Central America, Mexico, and South America."

I put a hand up to pause him. "South America?" I asked. "Yes, sir. Cases are now in South America." It spread awfully fast though. "Okay, but don't they have vaccines for that?" Jarvis pulled up another article. With a flick of my hand, the print became larger.

Vaccines for the bird flu are not mass produced. Some pre-pandemic vaccines have been created and are currently being tested.

Part of the news cast popped up in my head. "Why are they saying it's the swine flu then, when it's the bird flu?" I didn't see why the government would have to cover that up. Sure, it was more fatal, but why lie about it? Something seemed off for sure. "I do not know, sir, but I almost made the same mistake." I flicked the article away with my hand and I was confused now. "Mistake?" I asked. "Yes, sir. That is why I retested the results." Good thing Jarvis could think on his toes. "Okay, so you thought it was H1N1 too?"

The 3D model of the bird flu and the swine flu were placed side by side in the air. "H1N1 consist of influenza C as well as A, sir. When the compound was processed though the machine, no signs of influenza C were found. On first look though, I believed it was H1N1." My mind tried to figure out what Jarvis was saying. "Okay, so then why did you think it was H1N1 if there was not even a trace of influenza C?"

"Well sir, not all of the compound is the flu strand, sir. The other compound is a very toxic chemical to humans. This is indeed a new sort of biochemical weapon."

A new biochemical weapon mixed with the flu. Great, just great. About a thousand questions filled my head. Who planned the attack? Why Central America? Why not New York or LA? "The chemical is classified as a cytotoxic protein, and it is a non-living chemical. Common examples are Ricin and Abrin. It has a latent period of 4-8 hours, then flu like symptoms start to occur."

I stopped Jarvis again. "Okay, well then tell me. Why add a chemical weapon that exhibits the flu symptoms, to the actual flu strand?" A few more articles appeared before me. "Good question, sir. I only have speculations. The bird flu is constantly changing. It mutates quite often. This would make creating a vaccine more difficult. Also, with the cytotoxic protein, the strand looks like H1N1. You would need to conduct further test to determine otherwise. This accounts probably for the H1N1 news reports."

That made enough sense. Jarvis would be more advanced than anything the government was probably using, them and the CDC. Not bragging or anything you know. (Sarcasm, guys. Of course he's better!) "Alright, that would make sense then. But still, why release it in a time of peace in Central America? There's no war going on there. It still doesn't click."

"Well, sir, I have one more theory left." I nodded, signaling for Jarvis to continue. "The release of the flu-chemical hybrid could be to test the weapon. It would look like a pandemic, but it would not really be one. Like a disguise, sir." I thought about that idea. "They can run test on the chemical weapons in the lab!" Jarvis thought ahead though. "Human test are unethical, sir."

Human test. Was someone releasing the weapon because they were merely curious to see what it did to innocent people? This really didn't surprise me though. Raising my arm, I knocked off a stack of papers on my desk. "Almost half of the people who contracted it have died!" My heart ached for them. All that were vaccinated got the wrong vaccine. It wouldn't help squat. There are a lot of sick and twisted people. But my job was to fix it.

"There is something else sir. The cytotoxic protein is a rare one. It seems like it is a cross between Ricin and Abrin. This is called Abricin. It is a relatively new chemical weapon, and hasn't been bought by the government yet."

If it was relatively new, then there must be such a small amount out there. An idea came to mind. "Well, can you find out where it's produced? If its new, then only a few places may be working on it."

"Scanning, sir." I let Jarvis work his magic. Trying to take my mind off of this, I let my eyes wander around my workshop. Walking over to one of the many workspaces, I pressed a button. Up out of the floor rose an armor of many. This one though, was very special. I had taken on a new project for a while, and it sort of became my favorite to work on.

It was harder than the other suits I have built before. Harder to work on, that is. Because of the body shape I wanted to create for it, I ran into a major design error. What's an engineer to do? Engineer something of course.

I present, the carbon spandex. Yeah, spandex. Lovely mental picture, huh? Basically I fortified the stretchy material with a carbon fiber type. It was resistant to breakage but was extremely flexible and elastic like. It was just what I needed. Then on the spandex suit, I was creating the metal armor over it.

How would someone possibly put it on? Easy. Taking the basic design from the Mach 42, I just adapted it. The Mach 42 came apart and then reassembled on the wearer. The spandex underneath the armor was another design problem. So, whenever it needs to disassemble, the seams of the parts become very hot, but only for a second. This allows the spandex to melt only at the seams and not off the back of the armor. When the wearer calls the suit to assemble on them, the seams heat up again, melting the spandex back together. Ingenious, I know.

"One producer of the Abricin found, sir." I spun around at the sudden noise. "Oh, good work Jarvis." Picking up a screwdriver, I fastened part of the arm piece together. There were minor adjustments on the upper half of the suit. The lower half was still a skeleton.

"Where are they at?" I stuck the tool in between a moving part. The suit reacted by moving. I gave a nod, realizing the calibration was going to be generally pretty easy on this one. "Here in California, actually, sir." Wow, maybe Caltech? UCLA? A tiny chemical research lab? I wedge the screw driver into a space, causing a spark. Quickly, I withdrew it. "Who produces it?" I asked, looking to the eye slits in the mask.

"Stark Industries, sir."


	14. Chapter 14

"I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."- F. Scott Fitzgerald

(The events between Andrea and Tony are happening simultaneously, just so you are not confused. Some events will repeat in the other characters point of view)

I opened the car door with my full hands. I had my purse with me along with a cup of coffee. I needed it so I could function. Sliding my legs out, I stood up, my keys making a jingling noise as I did so. Using my hip, I closed the door shut and began my walk to the building.

The main building was circular, and from there I would take the elevator up to my floor. The spot where a large arc reactor once stood was now the lobby of the building. There was no large statue of Tony in the center, which surprised me. There was a few desk scattered throughout, probably to direct guest and manage the building in general. I gave a nod to the security guard as I passed him. My badge was clipped visibly on my jacket.

After the short elevator ride I stepped out onto my floor. Leaning over the retinal scanner, the violet laser scanned my eyes. A beep sounded and the door leading to the labs and my office opened up. A few people said hi to me as I passed by, and I retuned the greeting. I wasn't necessarily in a hurry, and I was tempted to stop and talk to a few, but for some reason I did not.

Judy was not in my office when I arrived, and that was a bit of relief. I needed some time alone for a moment or two. My mind kept wandering back to Tony. I mean, sure, I think about him, but not obsessively like I was today. It was mainly because of last night. I had never seen a man so strong and protected by the many walls that he's build up over the years look so helpless. He tore down the walls so I could see inside, and that must have terrified him. It would terrify anyone to really let someone see who they were. I wonder why I was so special that he showed me.

The door creaked open and Judy walked on inside. "Good morning, Miss Carheart." I lifted my head up from my desk. "Really, Andrea please." She smiled and nodded, even though she would never address me like that. "Anything major for today?" I asked, pulling open a draw and placing my purse inside.

I felt something was off. Reaching my hand up, I touched the inside of my ear. "Dang it." I muttered. I forgot my ear piece at home. No connection to Jarvis or Tony. He was going to absolutely freak. Rolling my eyes, I opened the draw again.

"Team evaluations are due today by the evaluators, so that will be interesting. You have a call scheduled for you around one o'clock. Oh, and ACC has decided to become our main chemical supplier! Sound like the lunch went well!"

I tried not to let out a laugh. Oh, it went very well, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead I smiled. "Great! That's wonderful! We will have to have some new orders placed soon." Judy pulled out a pencil and flipped though some of her memo pages. Scribbling down the reminder, she then turned back to her calendar. "That looks about all. Oh, Benedict wants to meet earlier today with you to discuss something major on Project Genetics."

The project was chugging along wonderfully. The geneticist agreed to work with us, which was great. We gave her a guest pass and she came in on her days off to work. Of course, I had her paid for that, but she seemed truly interest in it now that all the kinks were worked out.

"Oh okay." I said, pulling my phone from my bag. "I can do that." Unlocking it, I went to send a message. Judy cleared her voice and I looked up at her. "Sorry, sorry." Placing my phone down on my desk, I locked it, never messaging Tony. If he needed to contact me, he could. It wasn't like one day without it was going to hurt anyone.

Judy smiled. "I think he wants to meet with you now." I blinked a few times and took a sip of my coffee. "Oh, right now? Fine, I guess I could." I tossed my phone back into my bag and stood up. I gave Judy a smile before I grabbed a few things off my desk. With my clipboard in hand, I exited the office.

* * *

_Picking up from the end of Chapter 13: "Here in California, actually, sir." Wow, maybe Caltech? UCLA? A tiny chemical research lab? I wedge the screw driver into a space, causing a spark. Quickly, I withdrew it. "Who produces it?" I asked, looking to the eye slits in the mask. _

_"Stark Industries, sir."_

My jaw dropped open and the screw driver hit the floor, the noise echoing though the garage. "We produce it? Are we the only ones?" My body leaned up against a table, my arms holding me up. I felt acid creep up my throat and I thought I was going to be sick. "The only ones I can find, sir."

My stomach churned. "I did this." I whispered. "Actually, Andrea created it." My jaw slid forward, crossing my bottom teeth in front of my front teeth. "Great, just great Jarvis. That makes it so much better!" I shouted.

In a fit of rage I turned around to face the table behind me. Reaching my hands under it, I pushed it as hard as I could. It tipped over and the multiple tools, wires, and bolts scattered across the concrete flooring. Swinging my foot back, I kicked it again and again, sending it across the room.

For a moment I calmed down. "Sir." Jarvis said quietly. Inside my chest a pain began, and grew more and more. It became tight and my breathing doubled. I was hyperventilating and my heart began to beat twice as fast. The room began to spin, some things appearing doubled. I realized my body was shaking.

"Sir, try to breathe slowly." Jarvis advised. I held up my hands close to my face to see them trembling. My breathing couldn't be controlled though. I was almost solely focused on how bad my body was feeling right now. "P-p-panic att-ttack." I stuttered.

"Yes, sir, you are having a panic attack. Please, calm down. Concentrate on breathing, sir." I tried to do as Jarvis told me to, but I couldn't. I closed my eyes and attempted to.

_"Hey," Andrea said, grabbing my arm. I turned my head towards her face, my eyes full of sadness. She gave me the biggest smile I have ever seen. "I love you." _

For some reason that memory helped me out. My breathing became slower and slower, the tightness in my chest decreasing. The room seemed to stop spinning, but I still felt sick. Finally my breathing was normal. "I really hate those." I said aloud. "It's alright, sir. You recovered rather quickly." My mind returned to the current issue.

"If Andrea created it, then someone is using it in the pandemic. Andrea would never do that, I'm positive. It must be another staff member that would have access." I reassured myself that Andrea would not do this. I know she wouldn't. "I have reviewed the entry and exit into the lab containing the substance, and there is indeed more than one person who has access to the chemical."

"Who has entered in the most times, besides her?" I asked. Maybe this was our culprit. Not to make any premature judgments of course, but just out of curiosity. "Co-creater, Benedict Donovan." The name rings a bell, but I couldn't figure out what from. "He sounds familiar." I commented. "He was next in line for the head position, sir."

Instantly, I knew where this was going. "The position." I whispered. "Jarvis! Call Andrea's ear piece!" I demanded of the AI. "Uh, sir." Jarvis said. "What?" I yelled at him. Right now was not the time. "She left it at home, sir." I felt like tossing over another table, but I kept my cool. "Call her cell." The call screen appeared with her picture on it. It rang once …twice …three times…then the answering machine.

"Damn it!" I cursed. "Call her office phone!" The call screen reappeared and I waited for the ringing. After the second ring someone picked up. "Hello?" A woman answered. "Is Andrea there?" The lady didn't reply right away. "Who is this?" She asked. I debated whether to say or not. "It's Tony. It's sort of urgent." I said. I assumed this was her assistant. "Sorry, I'm going to have to put on you hold." My fist slammed down on my office desk. "You don't understand! It's important!"

The line went dead. "That stupid moron!" I shouted. "Why the heck would you hang up on someone like that!" I yelled, angered. "Jarvis, the suit." I commanded. "Sir, you need to think about this." The AI warned. "Andrea may not really be in any danger here. If you go marching in on her with your suit, you could make a fool of yourself."

I let out a dry laugh. "What if she is not? Nope, not going to take that chance! I promised, and I intend to keep it! Jarvis, the suit!" I yelled. The AI did not speak and did not start up the suit. Then the pieces of Mach 43 came hurling towards me. The pieces reassembled around me and the blue circle encompassed my vision inside the helmet.

"Sir, I take that back. You may want to hurry." I didn't even ask what had gone wrong. Turning my hand to the window, I let out a blast from my flight stabilizer. The glass just vibrated as the light dissipated. "We updated those, sir." Jarvis said. "Oh, right." I replied sheepishly.

I took off though the exit of the garage, launching me into the sky outside. "Right for Stark Industries. Super sonic, Jarvis." Instantly the suit became faster, launching me towards my business. "Right on it sir!" I just hope I would be there in time.

* * *

I strutted down the hallway towards the small lab space. I wonder why Benedict had wanted to see my so much earlier than normally. Sometimes I think he does it purposely to annoy me. With a sigh I geared up. With my hair up in a ponytail, I wrapped a hair net around my head. The shoe covers fit over my feet and I pulled the goggles over my eyes. Lastly I put on my gloves. I didn't bother taping them because I most likely wasn't going to deal with anything right now.

I passed though some of the cubes, scientist working hard in each of them. Before I reached the door to the lab Benedict was in, I paused and looked around. It seemed like everyone was packing up and heading out to lunch. The techs would secure everything and then the lab would be closed for thirty minutes. This also allowed for the chemical wash to sanitize the floors and glass walls.

I entered the lab and the first thing I noticed was the white board. Things were scribbled all over it. New things that I had not seen before. Sort of mesmerized by the math and science on the board, I walked up to it. "Benedict, this is great! Have you worked out the…" My voice trailed away as I spun around. Benedict was nowhere to be seen. The lab was completely empty. "Uh, hello?" I asked again. No reply was heard. "Rather odd." I muttered.

Something down the hallway echoed. I turned towards the door leading out of this lab. It could have been the scientist and techs heading out to lunch and the cleaning machine turning on, but it was more of a clanging noise. My hand reached up for the door handle.

The door in front of me swung open and into my face. Of course it was the one I was in front of. I heard my nose crack from the sheer force of the door opening. Staggering back a few paces, I reached up to my nose and felt warm blood oozing onto my face.

The click of metal startled me and my nose was now the least of my worries now. In front of me stood a very tall man with a strong build. He was dressed in all black except for his mask, which was a striking red. Two long horns at the top curled around, making me believe it was a mask that was suppose to represent the devil. Where the mouth was, there were long pointy fangs and other sharp teeth. Least to say, it was terrifying.

What my eyes had caught though, was the gun that was raised up at me. Slowly my hands released my nose and I put them up in the air.


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 14: The click of metal startled me and my nose was now the least of my worries now. In front of me stood a very tall man with a strong build. He was dressed in all black except for his mask, which was a striking red. Two long horns at the top curled around, making me believe it was a mask that was suppose to represent the devil. Where the mouth was, there were long pointy fangs and other sharp teeth. Least to say, it was terrifying._

_What my eyes had caught though, was the gun that was raised up at me. Slowly my hands released my nose and I put them up in the air._

* * *

"The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world."- Edgar Allen Poe

The blood from my nose dripped off of them and onto the white tile. "Don't make any rash moves, Miss Carheart." The demon said. "We don't want anyone to get hurt here, do we?" I didn't answer, I just glared. "What do you want?"

I could see that their eyes narrowed underneath their mask. "I want you to give me the whole supply of Abricin. All that has been produced here." It was my turn to narrow my eyes. "You think I'm just going to hand it over because you ask for it?"

The devil laughed at me. "You do realize I have a gun aimed right for your head." I nodded. "Yeah, but I'd rather die than hand over an extremely toxic chemical weapon." I bet that thwarted the man, because it was true. I would rather die than have millions of innocent people die because I was too cowardly.

"Your awfully strong, Miss Carheart, but so foolish." How would this freak know? My eyes scanned the lab again. I knew this was a weapons plant, but there was nothing in this room I could use as a weapon. Nothing that could beat a gun. "I'm foolish? Listen here, Lucifer. Even if I give you the chemical, you will be hunted down. You will waste away in jail. There is no way you will not be caught."

The devil didn't really seem to care. "If you don't give me the Abricin, then not only you will die, but your beloved Tony, too." Dang it. He could be bluffing. Still, Tony's life was at risk now, and I couldn't do that to him. I just couldn't. My heart was torn right down the middle. What the heck do I do? A plan formulated in my mind. "Don't touch him!" I yelled. The man smiled, thinking he won. "The Abricin, then." I nodded, slowly backing up towards the door. The man followed behind me, the gun right at my neck. "Enter in." I pulled the door open and entered the lab.

Instantly the alarm to the whole entire building went off. The noise caused both of us to cover our ears. The devil though, still held the gun right on my neck. Why did the alarm go off? Were these guys caught? The man remained calm though and pushed me forwards.

Everyone had cleared out of the lab by now. The chemical wash had not begun yet. With the cold metal on my neck, I stepped forward and into a lab space. The man followed me in, pressing the gun harder into my skin. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out one of the only keys for the special fridge. Sighing, I inserted it into the lock. There was a click and I opened the fridge up.

Lots of chemicals were stored inside, but I pulled out a box that read 45620. The Abricin. I extracted it from the fridge carefully and set it on the workspace countertop. "I have already put on the proper gear to enter the lab. Proceed." The demon informed me. I realized he had on a pair of black gloves and shoe covers on his feet. With a nod, I opened up the box.

Inside were test tubes filled with the powdery chemical. "All of it." He reminded me. Slowly I began to take out all the test tubes with the Abricin. "Pick up the pace." He commanded. "I need it quick." Still, I moved slowly. "I said hurry up woman!"

"Do you want to inhale this stuff and see what it does yourself?" In an instant, I grabbed one of the vials. The cap popped off with ease, and I aimed the contents for his face. The man with the gun didn't look too protected anymore. "This will kill you." I threatened. And if would. This vial could kill almost 1,000 people, and that's without the persistency and spread of it.

"I still have the gun." The devil said, raising the fire arm. "Even if you shoot me, I can still toss this in your face. Either way, we both die." I could tell the man was on edge now, but he had a good poker face. "Back into the hallway." I demanded. The man debated for a moment before doing so. As he took small steps back, I took small ones forward, still threatening him with the highly toxic weapon. As his foot crossed over and into the hallway, I slammed the door shut.

A loud noise emitted from the lab and the ceiling began to vibrate. The man turned his head back to me, and under his mask I bet a look of terror was there. On the opposite side of the lab, jets began blasting the cleaning chemical on the glass entryways of the labs and on the hallway connecting them. The whole lab was in a lock down now.

The wash began to travel closer and closer to him. Frantically he ran over to the lab door, shaking the handle rapidly. The door would not budge. In a fit of panic, he aimed his gun at the lock.

The bullet penetrated the door and the glass cracked around it. It was like the bullet was frozen in ice. It had not gone though. "Like a weapons manufacture wouldn't use bullet proof glass!" I shouted so he could hear me. "Idiot!"

My eyes scanned the lab again and I found what I was looking for. In the ceiling there was a large vent that sucked air up into it. The negative pressure vent. Pulling the chair in the lab room under it, I figured I could reach it. Picking up a tool off the desk, I then stood up on the chair.

Slowly but surely, I began to unscrew the hardware holding it into the ceiling. The vibrating of the lab stopped. The noise ceased as well, and I turned around on the chair. Three more men with different devil and demon mask on entered the lab space. They turned off the chemical wash. The door to the labs were unlocked.

My hands grasped the vent and I lifted my feet of the chair. I only had three of the four screws out, but I was hoping my body weight would pull it out of the wall. Let me tell you I got really lucky. The door to the lab I was in opened and another shot was fire.

Thank god he had bad aim.

Placing my arms inside the vent, I hoisted myself in, just avoiding the shot. I didn't waste any time and pulled my legs in the vent as well. Since this wasn't an ordinary vent, I knew I would need to get out soon. This vent sucked air in instead of blowing it out, making it hard to breathe.

My knees and hands went double time as I crawled though the ductwork. I almost collapsed on the slick metal but I forced myself to keep going. My heart was pounding and my breathing was labored. I was just shot at twice. They wanted me dead. Tony, I don't know how you got though Iraq.

Noises echoed from behind me. The masked men must have followed me up here. I wanted to stop because my knees had hit too many sharp objects, my hands bloody from pulling myself along a nail ridden path. The noises only motivated me to move faster.

"She can't be far up ahead." A deep voice boomed though the ducts. My rest came to an end as I painfully crawled forward again. Light showed up at the end of the tunnel for me. Literately.

Another vent leading into a different part of Stark Industries was my ticket out of here. Vigorously I crawled though the duct, causing a ruckus. The light came sooner than I thought. The duct below me gave way, and the light from the room below blinded my eyes.

With a bang, my body hit the floor, the impact sent me flying though the air only to land on concrete again. I slid on the glossy surface, leaving streaks of blood from my torn up hands. The men would for sure know where I was now.

My surroundings had drastically changed from the labs to what I recognized as the internal production plant. This is where a large bulk of the weapons were manufactured. That part only made me a little nervous.

What really did me in was that I was far from safe now. The production plant at Stark Industries was fully operated by robots and other automated machines. No humans. No people to help me. Just great.

A dull halogen bulb hung over the flat gray painted stairs leading into the production area. It was my only option, so I leapt off the stairs quickly, despite the pain I was feeling in my knees. More light awaited me at the end of the hallway and I rushed towards it

Instantly I was blinded by a bluish glow that the machines emitted. The noise of the machinery also filled my ears, not allowing me to tell if I was still being followed. At least the ruckus would cover up any noise I made as well too. Yellow robotic arms twisted and turned objects, either removing them or placing them on the conveyer belts. I could see pipes underneath parts of the flooring made of glass. Glass windows also blocked off some of the equipment. The silver glints on the conveyer belts reminded me these were weapons being produced.

Quickly I looked around the production plant until I saw what I was looking for: a gun. Now don't take me as a killer, because I am not. Violence is only (unfortunately) need sometimes, and this was one of them.

Mustering up some strength, I dragged myself across the room. A robotic arm swung out and I ducked under it quickly. My heart raced and my pace quickened. "Over there!" Someone shouted. I've been found. The sound of pounding footsteps echoed thought the plant and I began to run.

A few shots rang out, but none near me as far as I could tell. Then I heard something from behind me. Turning around briefly, a masked man was about a mere 10 yards away. Quietly I cursed, and made a mad dash for it. It was hard because my leg was hurting me from the fall, but I pressed on.

"Come back here!" He cried. My foot slipped out under me, sending my body hurling towards some equipment. I clung on to it, but quickly let go as a shock rushed though my body. Getting down on my hands and knees, I crawled under the conveyer belt, hoping to lose him. Wrong. On the other side were two more devils.

I had nowhere to go. Except for up.

Shots fired around me as the two demons neared. I hoisted myself quickly onto the conveyer belt and went along for the ride. A robotic arm stretched out for me, like I was an assembly part. It grabbed a hold of my shirt, not willing to let go.

The men behind me got up on the conveyer belt too, clearly determined not to let their target go. Wrapping my arms around the robot, I was swung across and released onto another belt. The men were astounded that I made it over. Picking up the gun on the belt, I reached over onto the other one, grabbing some ammo. Jamming it in, I then let off a few shots, firing near their feet. The two men stepped backwards foolishly, and fell off of the moving belt.

I jumped off the conveyer and ducked so they couldn't see me. I was definitely not equipped with guns, so I had no clue how to reload this thing. Tossing it aside, I pulled a new one off the belt and grabbed more ammo.

Then, there it was. The precious red lettering that red EXIT. Relief filled me as I saw a way out. In my moment of discovery, another shot rang out. I dropped to the ground, my chin smacking the concrete. With a swift roll, I was underneath the conveyer belt.

The footsteps neared and a pair of black boots neared my face. I tried to hold my breath or breathe shallowly in attempt to minimize noise. The boots then paused in front of me. I've been discovered. They stayed there for a moment or two before trekking onwards.

I forgot about the fact I was holding my breath, and my brain demanded that my body breathe. I sucked in air rapidly, making a loud noise. The boots instantly stopped and turned around.

I rolled again, this time facing a rock and a hard place. What appeared to be powder was on this next conveyer belt, but behind it was a large glass wall. Large wires and cables ran behind it, along with a few pipes. It was onto the belt or bust.

My bloody hands grasped the belt and I ran along side of it. It was moving at a rather quick quip, and it was hard for me to keep up. Finally I pulled myself all the way up on it. The man with the gun had ducked under the conveyer belt and could see me on the new one. This time, he did not join me.

I realized I had left the gun on the floor in an attempt to get up here. Why the man though, didn't follow, troubled me. Looking ahead, I saw why. Large industrial steel blades mashed down upon the powder at quick intervals, chopping it into an even finer dust. And I was only feet away.

The blade swung and I rolled towards it. It smashed down behind me and I made it through the first. Then I rolled the way I had just come to avoid the next one that came whizzing down on the chopping block. There was no way off this conveyer belt until I passed though the blades. If I tried to get off now, I risked being sliced in half.

I had to think quick again, rolling another way. I yearned to get off of this death machine, but I could not. I saw the space where I could depart getting smaller and smaller. The large conveyer belt leads into a large furnace. Chopped to death or baked alive. How pleasant.

Adrenaline pulsed though my body as I realized that I did not have much longer to go. As my heart pounded against my lungs, I saw another blade come down. It took me by surprise, so I made a judgment call and rolled again.

(Tony's POV)

Super sonic seemed almost slow when I needed to be faster than light. The premises of the building neared, the bird's eye view familiar to me. "Jarvis," I asked, using the display to zoom in on the nearest entrance. "Where is Andrea?"

"She is in danger sir, but she is in the labs." My fist tightened as I neared the building. "What is going on?" I asked though gritted teeth. "She has a gun to her head, sir." My muscles tensed up throughout my body in anger. "Damn!"

There was nothing I could do right now either. I pushed suit faster and farther than it had been pushed before. Good thing suit 43 was holding up. "Keep me up do date, move by move, Jarvis. Alert security. For heavens sake!" I cried. "Set off the Red alarm!"

The Red alarm had never been set off before, but there's a first for everything, right? "The Red alarm sir." Jarvis asked again. "Do it!" From where I was in the air, I could hear the splitting alarm. It basically called the police, fire department, and had ambulances sent.

Evacuation would begin. I didn't know exactly the threat, and I didn't want any of my employees hurt. The building itself did not shut down, but all computers would go on lock down so information could not be transferred or removed from any computer units. The phones would stay up of course. I just hoped that it worked.

I landed in front of the main entrance. People gasped as hit the ground. They didn't see me for long. I marched straight though the front doors to my company and into the large lobby. A multitude of desk lay before me in the circular room that was once a large arc reactor. Besides the blaring alarm, everyone became silent. What a great way to show up to work.

My display caught the face of the nearest worker to me. "Elevators?" I asked. The lady's jaw was wide open, her footsteps ceased. The paperwork in her hands fell to the floor, sending the colored sheets everywhere. Slowly she raised a quivering arm and pointed forwards. With a nod, I raced towards them.

"She is complying sir. She is removing the Abricin from the fridge. She is going to give it to him." I pressed the elevator button, but it only showed one going down. My fist smashed though the small control panel to the elevators. There, that should get me one going up. "Hang on, Andrea." I whispered. The elevators suddenly stopped showing where they were going. "Of course." I muttered.

Placing my two hands on the seam of the two doors, I curled my fingers into the metal. It crumpled easily under my hands, like it should have. My arms bent at the elbow, and I began to pry the doors back. The metal warped around my hands, but the doors did not budge. Something happened though. Scientist say that when you are placed in an urgent situation, that the human body can do amazing things. You can run faster than possibly imaginable, or jump from certain heights and still survive. I guess it's really all on how willing we are to try.

Letting out a yell, I put my whole body into it. The doors moved inch by inch open. Then, they pushed back into the wall, and I was free to enter. There was no light inside, but I provided enough with my suit. "Alright, there are a set of cables here, sir. Follow them up until we pass three sets of doors. That will be our exit."

With my hands at my sides, I shot up into the elevator shaft. One set of doors passed by. "Sir, she is threatening to toss the drug into his face!" I couldn't help but smirk under my helmet. "That's my girl." I just hoped she knew what she was doing. The terrible thought of life without her entered my mind, but I tossed it out quickly.

The second set of doors passed. "Uh, Jarvis. Problem." I stated. My head smashed into the elevator descending down the shaft. I busted though the metal and into the lighted area. No one was inside, but it was probably the one I called for downstairs. I didn't have enough time to slow down and I passed right though the top of it just as quick as I entered. "What problem, sir?" Jarvis replied. I snorted as we neared the third set of doors.

I tried blasting them open, which I knew wouldn't work that well. I started throwing punches as it. I pretended it was the guy holding a gun to Andreas head. Let's just say they opened really quick.

"Sir, her plan failed." My heart felt like it stopped. Failed? No… "She's crawling though the vent system now." I finally breathed again. "Jarvis, I thought you just told me she died!" For an AI, sometimes he's not that clear. "Oh, sorry, sir." Rolling my eyes, I ran towards the labs. "How do I get through the vents?" I asked. "The vent she is in leads over the production room and into packaging. Take a left." I followed Jarvis's instructions. "There are four people in devil mask after her." Devil mask? Weird. "What did we do now? Anger a cult?" I asked, coming up to another cross section in the hallway. "Left again, sir. And I do not know."

My HUD (heads up display) suddenly switched to thermal imaging, a new feature I was suddenly glad I put in 43. I could see four people in the vents above me. Lifting my hand to the air, I blasted though the ceiling at them. Though my helmet, I could see them scramble. I fired another beam up, hitting one of them. The other three were out of sight by now.

"Andrea just fell though the vent and into the production room, sir. On the other side of this wall coming up on our right." The production room was not an ideal area to fight. There were weapons in there, like bombs and other explosives. Caution was not really on my mind right now, but for the sake of the building and the people in it, I would have to hold back some. I hated that.

Turning right, I came to the wall Jarvis told me about. I lifted both of my hands into the air. Bright blue beams of light struck the wall and it came crumbling down. "Careful, sir." Jarvis warned. He knew I was livid. Taking a deep breath, I stepped though the hole.

The first thing my HUD picked up was Andrea. She was sitting atop of one of the conveyer belts, firing a large gun. Rolling off the conveyer belt, she was instantly gone. The men chasing her were all in dark colored clothing that fit their bodies tightly. Each one wore a distinctive demon mask. As I entered, they all looked at me.

Shots were fired, but that was the least of my worries. Equipment stood in my way, and with the risk of a very large explosion occurring, I did not fire back. "Jarvis, scan the room for explosives." I demanded. Lifting off the ground, I flew across the room towards the masked me.

My eyes caught Andrea sprinting towards the exit sign. I created a nice little distraction for her. Landing in front of two of the men, I raised my hands up at them. "Nice mask. You'll fit right in where you're going." From my hands two beams of brilliant light hit them.

One of the men flew up and over a belt and slid on the other side. The other flew backwards and hit the concrete with a thud. Only one more left. I spun around and scanned for him. My display caught him slipping underneath a conveyer belt. I lifted off the ground and was on him quickly.

I fired off a few beams at him, but missing almost every time. He fired at my armor with his gun, but that really didn't matter, now did it? The suit took every bullet without that much damage. I landed and blasted him again, sending him onto the floor. My metal hand reached out and pulled on the collar of his shirt. Yanking him up, I pressed his nose up against my face mask, so he could see into the blue eye slits. "Where is she?" I growled though clenched teeth. "The…belt." He managed to squeak out. I dropped him back on the concrete flooring and spun around. Large blades swung down on the belt and I felt something churn in my stomach.

"Andrea!" I screamed. Launching myself forward, raced towards the blades. I caught a glimpse of flesh on the belt. Her hand. Reaching out, I grabbed a hold of her. Her hand did not grab back, and I feared she was unconscious. With the last energy that I had, I pulled hard to yank her off the belt.

Blood splattered my face mask. The red drops clouded my vision as I stood in horror of my gruesome discovery. An arm. I had pulled an arm off the belt. There was a pristine, surgical like cut from the large steel blades right above the elbow. The bone itself was visible to me, the joint striped of some of the skin. Muscle fibers were still attached. The hand was bloody from what looked like small cuts. I noticed bright red fingernails and that's when I really lost it.

In horror I dropped the appendage in front of me. My knees hit the ground and my arms extended out in front of me to keep me from collapsing on the ground. The face plate opened up and I breathed in fresh air. My stomach began to convulse. I felt horrible. My head moved forward and I vomited on the floor. I've seen lots of blood and gore, but that's not why I was getting sick. It was the fact that it was Andrea's arm that made me puke.

There was a loud noise as the furnace started. Looking up, I realized I was too late. Her arm was severed and the rest of her body was now inside the burning hot machine. In a fit of frustration and sorrow, I yelled. My voice echoed off the equipment and walls, sounding haunting and hollow. I began to sob and tears fell down my face. She was gone. Andrea was dead.

_To be continued…_


End file.
